What is Taken
by Yahtzie
Summary: First set during Six Of One, follows the show for a bit and then drifts off. Laura is dying, Bill is hurting. This story is about Laura and her cancer and something else, you'll find out. Added character, so things are a tad muddled.
1. Guns Don't Mix With Photo Frames

**(Ok well this is a story I've been writing for some time now, and been thinking about for about 2 years, some of my friends who are utter BSG nuts wanted me to change my story so that it would be in a BSG plotline and basically turn into a fic. After a little black mailing I gave it. And this is the result. Have fun!)**

She was lying in his rack, the covers pulled up to her waist, cloth over her eyes when she heard a muffled "boom" from outside the door. Two seconds later she heard the hatch to his quarters open. She slowly got up from her recently comfortable position to see who it was, expecting Bill, she found Kara Thrace, holding a gun to her face.

"Move" at first it was barely a whisper. Laura looked to the direction Kara had gestured to, but didn't move.

"MOVE!" flinching at the increase in volume Laura started to move towards the lounge room.

"C'mon"

"Move C'MON" Kara was getting impatient with her slowness.

"Over by the couch, NOW!"

Kara walked over to the hatch, glanced at the marines unconscious outside and closed and locked it, her gun never leaving the President.

"I wanna hate you so much" whispered Kara.

"So much"

"You had a vision, remember? The arrow, the temple. I went down to that planet with you and it was a frakking toaster party. A lot of good people died, remember?"

"Yes I do." Laura whispered. Her mouth not even moving.

Kara continued.

"I trusted you, on a vision, that's it, a vision." Her voice rising and then faltering back to a whisper. "I saw Earth. I saw it with my own eyes, and it's calling me back." He voice once again rising. "We're going the wrong way, why can't you trust me?" She lowered the gun, clearly getting fed up with the whole situation. She armed the pistol, and held it out to Laura. "Shoot me, If you think I'm a cylon then I'm your enemy. Shoot your enemy." Laura flinched at her words. Kara slammed the gun down onto the table to Laura's right. "TAKE IT!" she yelled.

Back to a whisper. "I'm no more a cylon than you are, and you know it."

"I wish I did." said Laura. Speaking for the second time since being taken hostage, considerably calmer.

Kara started again. "I've put my life on the line for this frakkin' ship. I have ate, slept and fought next to the people I love, I have pissed of my friends. I've broken more rules than I've followed. I've frakked up, okay I messed up. But it's all that I have." The gun, still laying on the table. "Those people are my family… and none of us belong here."

"SHOOT ME, IF I'M A CYLON, SHOOT ME." She yelled at Laura.

"They made you perfect didn't they?" replied Laura, picking up the pistol beside her she fired it. One bullet hole in the photo of her and Bill across the room indicated that she had missed, badly.

--

Ensign Gaia Matthews walked silently down Galactica's halls. She had been told to report to CIC to help Lieutenant Gaeta with a computer repair. It wasn't that she was smarter than him when it came to technology, just that she had extensive experience in dealing with this sort of problem. A few of the ever so bright nuggets had decided to re-program a lone computer in CIC, making it transmit a different smart ass remark across the screen every minute. How they weren't caught in the act will be forever unknown, but what is known is that they are so gone. The reason that she had experience in sorting this type of thing out was because she had taught the nuggets how to do it, they had no idea how to reverse it so ended up dobbing her in. Now she had to take time out of what little R'n'R she had, to fix it.

As she turned the corner, she saw two marines unconscious on the floor out side of Admiral Adama's quarters. Three seconds later she heard a single shot fired and raced towards the room. She burst in, gun in hand, to see President Roslin holding another pistol at Lieutenant Thrace's head. The bullet had missed and hit a photo hanging on the wall across from them. There were misses and then there were misses, and that bullet was certainly a miss. _She is on diloxin treatments, looks like she just got up from bed and isn't wearing her glasses. Those are fair reasons._ She thought.

Pointing her gun at Starbuck she said "Down on the ground… sir." Not entirely confident in herself.

Starbuck gave her famous glare and turned back to face the President, ignoring the young ensign.

Ensign Matthews found the opportunity to smack her over the back of the head, knocking her to the ground but not unconscious. She then proceeded to grab her hands and hold them around her back and managed somehow to pin her to the ground.

Minutes later Colonel Tigh, Lt Agathon and a bunch of marines at their heels arrived, shortly after so did Admiral Adama. A kicking and screaming Kara Thrace was then dragged from the Admiral's Quarter's and taken to the brig.

Everyone had cleared out. Realising that she was the only one left besides the Admiral and the President, she went to leave.

"Ensign could you wait a moment?"

She turned and nodded.

The Admiral took a very shaken up President into the other room, she heard him suggest she see Doc Cottle and her declining. Once he returned he stopped dead in front of her and she looked up to meet his gaze.

"Tell me what happened."

She proceeded to explain what she was doing at the time and how she came to be pinning his best pilot to the floor. She thought she may be in trouble, though, he didn't look mad.

"Thank you." Was all he said. "Even though the President had the gun, you may have just saved her life, or at least all the photo frames."

His attempt at humour in such a serious time didn't go unnoticed by her, she smiled, unsure whether or not she should be. She didn't take the Admiral to be a man with a sense of humour.

"Anytime Sir."

At that she snapped to attention, saluted, and left.

**(Ok well, i've now re-edited this, i read through it and found some horrible typos and a few sentences that didn't make sense. Anyway, review if you like, I don't mind either way!)**


	2. Letters Of Fear

**(Ok well as I said, this has been whirling around upstairs for a while so it took me like an hour to write this. I hope you like it. )**

_She was in the middle of an empty room, listening to the light tapping of the rain on the window outside. The floor of this room was made out of old oak and the walls were painted a bottle green. There was no furniture in the room except a single oak chair. At the other end of the room was a door. It appeared to be the only way in or out. She slowly walked towards the door._

_Tap Tap Tap_

_The rain grew heavier now as she was only metres away from the door._

_Tap Tap Tap_

_She reached her hand up to the door handle and placed her hand on the cold brass._

_Tap Tap Tap_

_She turned the handle. Suddenly she was running through the Opera House, following the noises of a small girl._

"_Hera!"_

_The only response was a child's giggle. She raced down the stairs, stopping on the landing. In front of her was no other than Athena. They stared at each other, until they heard the girl again in the distance. Together they bolted in the direction of the noise. They made it around the corner just in time to see Caprica Six pick up the little girl and walk though the massive doors into a bright light with Gaius Baltar._

"_HERA!" they both screamed._

Laura jolted awake, cold sweat pouring off her. It took her a minute to get her bearings and realise that she was in the safe confinement of Bill's quarters.

_Safe? pfft, not after yesterday_. She thought. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and proceeded to stand. Her idea of standing was short lived when the room began to spin. She started to fall when a strong pair of arms grabbed her and eased her back down onto the bed. The man attached to those arms spoke.

"Easy Laura, you've had a rough day."

"How did you know I was awake?" she asked.

"I had a nightmare of my own and when I woke I heard you tossing and turning, a couple of times you whispered _Hera. _I was about to get up and wake you but you screamed and beat me to it. I came to see if you were alright and then well, the rest you know." He replied

"Oh… well then thank you, Admiral."

The use of his title was a bit of a shock to him. Realising that she had still not forgiven him for what he had said to her in their earlier argument. He left her to sleep.

--

The next morning Laura was back on Colonial One rifling though her files and reports when she found an envelope with the words _Madame President _on the front. She must have missed it last time she was in her office. Considering how deeply it was buried in the train wreck on her desk, she guessed that it must have been there a while. She proceeded to open the envelope and pull out the paper within. It was a letter, from who she didn't know. As she started to read, a look of horror passed her usually calm features. She had to ring Bill.

--

Admiral Adama had been reading over daily reports in his office when he received an urgent call from Tory, the President's aide. She told him that the President requested to see him regarding an important matter and to fly over ASAP. He dropped what he was doing and embarked in a raptor immediately for Colonial One.

--

Tory entered the President's office and informed her that the Admiral had arrived. She thanked her aide and Tory left just as Adama entered.

"You wanted to see me Madam President?"

Still feeling shocked from the letter she replied. "Yes, Admiral. I..um..wanted… thought you should see this."

She handed him the letter. He took it, opened it and read it. A look that she was sure had mirrored her earlier expression crossed his face.

"Do you know who it's from?" he questioned

"No, but after checking through everything on my desk I found two others just like it." She replied

"They sent the same letter three times?" he asked

"Maybe they thought I didn't get the other two, who knows. What we do know is, they're serious." She stood and walked over to the window and looked out at all the other ships. After a short while she broke the silence. "Why would someone send that? Why would someone out there want to do such a thing?"

"I don't know." He responded. "But they aren't going to get what they want."

"I hope your right." She whispered

He stood and walked over to her. Taking her hands in his own.

"If I've got anything to do with it, I'm right." He whispered back.

**(Reviews aren't unwanted XD)**


	3. Body Guards and Compromises

**(I knew what the letter was meant to say, but I didn't know really what to write in it, if you get what I mean. So tell me if it was ok. Please. Oh and this chapter was originally called "Snappy Admirals and Body Guards" tell me if you like that name better.)**

After seeing the President Bill went back to Galactica to sort some things out. He had told her that these letters were now top priority, and that he would do everything he could to make sure nothing came of them.

He got off the raptor and made directly for CIC knowing that there he could locate the one person he was looking for. He arrived at CIC in less than a pleasant mood. His 2IC giving him a puzzled look.

"What?" snapped Bill.

"Nothing." replied Saul, surprised at his friend's mood.

"Where is Ensign Matthews?" said Adama, loud enough for the whole room to hear so that anyone could answer.

"I believe she is in the gym Sir, it's where I saw her last." answered Mr Gaeta

Bill immediately left CIC for the gym. When he got there, he almost bowled over the very Ensign he wanted to see.

"Whoa." yelled the Ensign. Realising who she had just bumped into, she snapped to attention. "Sorry Sir, I didn't see you,"

"It's all right Ensign, I was just coming to talk to you." responded Adama

"Me sir, Why?" asked the Girl.

"I have an urgent matter to discuss with you. Not here though." he paused. "I'll let you clean up first, meet me in my quarters in 10 minutes."

She didn't even have time to respond before he turned and strode away, leaving her gaping behind him.

About ten minutes later she was standing outside the Admiral's quarters, she knocked. A faint _enter_ was heard and went in.

"Sir, I believe you wanted to… erm… see me?" the tiniest hint of sarcasm laced her voice.

"Ensign, yes, let me get right to it. I have a job for you." replied Adama

"Sir?" she questioned.

"Regarding the President." he returned.

"What is it?" she did a total double take.

"I would like you to be the President's personal body guard." he stated. She was speechless, she had no clue what to say.

"Wh-What?" she stammered, still not sure as how to how she should respond.

He continued. "I have just been to see the President. She informed me of some… letters she was getting from unknown persons." he explained.

"Letters?" she asked

"Death threats." he replied as he handed her one of the three letters. "Read it."

She did.

_Dear Madam President_

_You seem to cheat death on many occasions, by having a genius at your disposal and Ensigns that can think on their feet. We know that you are dying, we know it will be slow and painful. But we cannot risk you being alive any longer. The dangers that you could cause this fleet, between now and your death are at to high a cost. We do not want to kill you, we only know that we must._

"Are they serious?"

"Unfortunately Yes."

"And you want me to be her personal guard along with the countless marines she already has?"

"Yes." he replied. She gave him a look that said 'Are you all there or what?' Then she started.

"Sir I…"

He cut her off.

"After what you did two days ago, the way you reacted to such a fragile situation was more than commendable. Even though the President was the one holding the gun, you were observant enough to realise that she was not the threat."

"Maybe the meant-to-be-dead Kara Thrace gave it away sir." This was not the time for sarcasm, and she knew it, but she couldn't help it. _Is he totally of his rocker or what?_ she thought. "You can't possibly be putting me in charge of the Presidents life."

"I am. I trust you, and you proved to me that you can do the job, your quick on your feet and can knock out a man twice your size. I remember when I first met you, so does Lee."

/Flashback/

_Admiral William Adama was sitting in on the dry ground, playing in the sand when Laura Roslin walked up to him._

_"I didn't expect to find you playing in the sand." she confessed._

_"It's not sand, it's alluvial deposits, this use to be the river mouth." he corrected._

_"And you had to just take off your shoes and play in the alluvial deposits." she retorted with a smile. "How romantic."_

_Changing the subject he complemented her. "That's a nice colour on you."_

_"Thank you.", she hadn't said that to anyone in a while. She was so use to saying it all the time that now, it just seemed... so out of place._

_"It's good to see you Laura."_

_"You too Bill." she touched his arm and they smiled at each other._

_A young girl with dark, dark brown hair, almost to the point of black, walked past Bill and Laura. Thinking that she looked familiar, he stopped her._

_"Hey, you." she stopped and looked at him._

_"Yeah?" she asked, not to sure why the Admiral of the fleet was talking to her._

_"Have we met before?" he wondered out loud. Those eyes, they look so familiar. He thought. Her eyes were a light brown, when the sun shined into them, they seemed to glow._

_"I don't think so." she said. "I know who you are but I doubt you know me."_

_At that moment Lee walked up behind the girl and placed his hand on her shoulder. She didn't know he was there so she wasn't expecting it. She grabbed the unknown person's hand, twisted around and punched him square in the jaw, knocking him to the ground._

_"Oh my Gods, Lee." she gasped._

_Bill and Laura started laughing._

_"Glad you find is funny Dad." glared Lee, while he was picking himself up of the ground._

_"Sorry but I've never seen someone deck you so easily, not even when Starbuck catches you off guard." he chuckled._

_"Well I wasn't expecting that kind of welcome from her now was I." said Lee, sounding as if he was trying to convince his father that he had fair reasons as to why a teenager could floor him._

_"Ok Son." replied Bill, not sounding at all like he believed him._

_"You two know each other?" asked Laura._

_"Yeah… sort of. He has been teaching me everything you need to know about being a Viper pilot." answered the Girl._

_"Really? Well that's… interesting. What's you name?" questioned Bill._

_"Gaia, Gaia Matthews." she replied. Why do those eyes looks so damn familiar. Wondered Bill._

_"Dad, she is Nathaniel Matthews's daughter." told Lee._

_"The tillium miner? Oh now I remember where I've heard that name." said Laura._

_"Yeah, he um… is still up there aboard the fuel refinery ship. Some of my stuff is aboard Galactica still in storage. I'm going up there now to get it all actually." explained Gaia._

_"I have to be returning to Galactica myself, you can take the same raptor as me if you like." offered Bill._

_A bit surprised at his offer she was going to decline, but then remembered that she needed to get her stuff as soon as possible so she accepted. Bill bid Laura and Lee goodbye and he and Gaia walked to the raptor. Once inside and they had taken off, Bill spoke._

_"Why was Lee teaching you about Viper piloting?"_

_"I want to be a Viper pilot when I'm old enough, I don't actually know what the minimum age is but, I want to know as much as I can before hand." she explained._

_"How old are you?" asked Adama._

_"14." answered Gaia._

_"Oh, the minimum age allowed in the cockpit is 18. On the colonies the minimum age to start training was 16 because we had simulators. We don't here so the only way to train is to put you straight in the cockpit."_

_"I know."_

_He smiled. She really did know everything that she could, without first hand experience._

_He continued. "I don't like the idea of putting someone so young into a Viper, but I'm willing to compromise. If you agree, we could train you through books until you're 16. Once you're 16 we can start training you in a Viper, but you won't be allowed to go into battle until you're 18."_

_"So like I could train in the cockpit for two years, but only training, not actually fight the cylons?" she confirmed._

_"Yes. Exactly." replied Adama._

_"Ok. I can live with that." she smiled, knowing that one day, she would be what she always dreamt of being._

/End Flashback/

I had been 2 years since she had first met Adama. He had given her a compromise and she had just started training in a Viper, making her rank to Ensign. At age 16, that was good.

"Yeah I remember." she answered.

"You took down Lee without a seconds thought. With just enough force to disable him if he were an attacker, and just enough constraint as not to hurt him, just in case he was friendly. The President needs a protector who is on the ball and can think fast enough in the instance of a false alarm. She needs you." he knew that she was perfect for the job, that's why he had gone to her. In any other circumstances he would most likely of gone to Starbuck, but she was the furthest person from being Laura's ideal body guard at the moment.

"I'll think about it, I know that accepting this that it will be absolute full time. That means, dropping my Viper training. I don't know if I'm prepared to do that just yet." She thought for a second. "Is it an order?" If it was an order, she would have to accept, if not, then she wasn't sure if she was the right person to do this. He certainly was though.

"Not yet, but if the situation becomes more aggressive, then it may just well be." replied Adama.

She nodded, understanding that their conversation was over, she saluted and left. She knew that she was going to end up accepting the job because, after reading that letter, she was convinced that the "situation" would become more aggressive.

**(She seems to be saluting and leaving a lot doesn't she? **

**Ok I've made it go as in…**

**The mini-series and season 1 equal the first year.**

**Season 2 - the second year.**

**Then you have that year between season 2 and 3 on New Caprica - the third year.**

**Season 3 - the forth year.**

**Season 4 will be the fifth year, which is the year my story is set in. Just so you can work out Gaia's age. Btw you pronounce her name Jay-a with a J sound not a G sound.)**


	4. A Wrath Unwanted

**(Ok well I am soooooooooo sorry that this is late. I had exams, then some heavy family stuff, then some family gatherings. So it wasn't neglect of my story just the pureness of a packed two weeks and almost no sleep. Hope you like. Oh and btw, I started writing this two weeks ago and forgot what I was going to put in this chapter, so it took a differnt turn. The story is still the same just this chap ain't. Tell me what you think. PLEASE!)**

It had been 2 days since Laura had gotten those letters, and 4 days since Kara had taken her hostage. Things weren't looking up.

"What do I have today Tori?"

"First up is a meeting with the Quorum, they want to discuss the visions issue."

"Ugh" _They just love to waste my time don't they?_ she thought.

"Then is your meeting with the Admiral, after that you have your Diloxin treatment and then the rest of the day is off."

"I actually have a free day?" said Laura, sarcasm dripping off her voice.

Without a reply Tory smiled and left the President's office arms full of reports and folders.

Two Hours Later…

"That is not the issue here Tom." spoke Laura.

"On the contrary Madame President, that is entirely the issue. Have you been sharing visions with the cylon named Caprica Six, and Lt Carl Agathon's wife the Athena or not?." questioned Zarek. "Please note that Athena is also a cylon." ha added.

All the delegates turned to look at the President, awaiting her response.

"Mr Zarek, I do not appreciate my time, what little of it I have left, to be wasted by ridiculous questions such as these. What do you want me to say? Tell you I am and watch the entire fleet go into a frenzy? Or tell you what you want to hear?" glared Roslin.

"How do you know what we want to hear?" asked the young Adama.

"Whatever you want to hear, whether is be yes or no." retorted Roslin.

No one answered.

"I thought so. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an important meeting with the Admiral to attend. Thank you."

With that she stood and exited, Tory not leaving her side. She entered her office to find Adama sitting patiently in one of the chairs.

"Admiral."

"Madame President."

"Thank you Tory, that will be all." at that the young aide left.

"How are you?" asked Adama.

"I'm alright... considering." replied Laura.

"No more letters?"

"No, at least, not that I know of." she smiled.

"Well I must admit, it is annoying when the best candidate for the President's bodyguard is actually a danger to her. You getting taken hostage by my best pilot slash bodyguard did not help me in my attempts to find you protection" sighed Adama.

"Yes well, sorry about that, having a gun held to your head when you're half out of your mind is always fun." she retorted.

She was exhausted, you could see it in her eyes.

"On that note, I may have found someone for you."

"Really, who?" quizzed Laura.

"You're not going to like it though, I told her that if she accepted the job, that she was to meet me here around about now." replied Adama

Bill knew that Laura wasn't going to like the idea of a 16 year old putting there life on the line for her. Laura was a teacher, at heart she always would be, and her feeling of responsibility to look after and protect those younger than her was strong. She wasn't going to like it one bit. To be honest, Bill wasn't to hot on the thought either, though, the people needed Laura, he needed her, and he was prepared to do almost anything to make sure that they had her, he had her. In retrospect, it seemed pretty futile, she was dying of a wasting disease. Preventing assassination attempts against her only seemed like an extension of her life, not a preservation. Maybe he needn't worry about it after all, it appeared that Ensign Matthews wasn't showing. He felt disappointment and relief at that thought. Disappointment at Laura's protection being down scaled, and relief at Gaia not having to put herself in any immediate danger.

She stared at him. "Who is it?" she asked.

He cleared his throat. "Well, do you remember that girl we saw on New Caprica, when we were a bit tipsy?"

"Tipsy? Try thoroughly stoned." she quipped. Silence. "But yes, I remember. What about it?"

"Do you remember a certain young girl who decked Lee for sneaking up on her?"

"The one that was passionate about viper piloting?" He nodded. "Yes I do."

"Well I struck a deal with her that same day. That we'd train her by books for two years and when she turned 16, I'd let her in the cockpit but she wasn't allowed to go into battle until she was 18." he explained.

"That sounds reasonable."

He continued. "Well he name is Gaia Matthews, she is an Ensign now. But more importantly, she is the girl that arrested Starbuck the day that you were taken hostage."

"The same girl? She saved my life." she exclaimed.

He nodded. "Precisely, that's why…"

He stoppen when he saw Laura's expression all of a suddenly go serious.

"You are not using a 16 year old girl as my bullet proof vest."

"You don't need to say it like that."

"That's exactly what a bodyguard is. They take bullets don't they?"

"Yes, but…"

"No."

"Laura you need to be protected."

"What is the point, I'm going to be dead soon anyway." Her voice was almost a yell.

He didn't yell back, he just looked down at his hands. Seconds went by that felt like minutes. He finally spoke.

"Don't say that."

"Why not it's true. Protecting me from them is just prolonging the inevitable. You know it and I know it. I am not going to be here for much longer, maybe letting them get me is a good thing. It would be quick. They just want me gone. Even if I did agree to a personal twenty-four/seven bodyguard, there isn't a chance in Kobol that I'll let you use Ensign Matthews."

"It may be too late for that." he confessed.

"Why?"

Before he could answer, a voice came from the door.

"Am I interrupting anything? The Admiral told me to meet him here. I'm sorry if I am."

It was Gaia.

**(Ok well I told you things would be muddled, cause Kara never went on a mission in the Demetrius and so never brought back the cylons, so that quorum meeting never happened, so she was never put back in uniform and is still in the brig, and yes, they are ignoring her pleas that they are going to wrong way, Laura is always right, just thought I might clear that up just in case you were lost.)**


	5. The Reason Doctors Aren't Comedians

**(Ok well I've have an incredible amount of time on my hands atm coz i'm very sick, got tonsilitus and a cold at the same time. So i'm writing alot of crap even put a one shot up, massive spoiler if you havern't seen Revelations though so yea, don't say I warned ya. This chap is short but needed.)**

_Oh Frak_ thought Bill, he knew he was in trouble. He turned back to look at Laura and found her glaring at him with considerable dislike. This wasn't going to be fun.

"I'm sorry, I'll go." said Gaia. She went to leave but was stopped by a voice from behind her.

"No it's alright, just wait outside for a few moments. The Admiral and I have a few quick things to clear up." ordered The President.

She didn't seem pleased.

Gaia nodded and went to wait outside. Laura faced Bill once again.

"You already asked her." It wasn't a question, more of a statement of the fact.

"You already asked that poor girl to be my bodyguard. What the hell were you thinking?"

He went to answer but she stopped him.

"Wait, don't answer that, I don't want to know." She sighed. "I don't have a choice do I?" She asked.

"Not really no, it is a military matter and I've given my orders."

"I'm sorry, military matter how exactly. And please don't tell me you ordered that Ensign to take this job."

"It is a military matter because a citizen of the fleet is a target. Although this citizen is of the highest government order, still of the fleet none the less. And to answer your question, no, I asked her to do it. I told her that she could decline if she liked, but to think about it first." explained the Admiral.

"Fine. Bring her in, but I'll let you know now I'm not happy about this."

"Oh I know Madame President, I know." he whispered under his breath.

--

It had been three days since the Admiral and the President discussed if Ensign Matthews was to protect the President. The Admiral had managed to convince the President that it was a good idea to have a bodyguard, though Gaia was positive that the President was truly pissed at the candidate.

It had been decided that Ensign Matthews was to sleep in the room next door to the President's. Doctor Cottle was apprised of the situation, for medical purposes, and made light of the situation by stating that "You better be able to run sharp corners quickly, cause I ain't patching you up if you hit a wall on you way to the President's quarters in an emergency." No one had found this the least bit funny. Ensign Matthews was to be the President's shadow for everything. Well almost everything. She was to stand guard in the corner of the room behind the President's desk, so that she could see all entrances easily, and act quickly if needed. They were all in for a long road.

**(PLEASE REVIEW XD)**


	6. Where There's Blood, There's A Wound

**(Ooooh there is some fun in this one.)**

A few weeks had passed and almost all had forgotten about the lurking danger. Only four people knew about those letters and that's how it was hopefully going to stay.

0500 hours was an extremely early time to get up, but Gaia was use to it. Well maybe not this early, but still. She had to up before the President, so that she could check everything was in order, which took some time. Gaia picked up her clothes and went to the head. Just as she was about to strip and change, she was flung violently to the wall. Everything started to go fuzzy and got increasingly darker. She willed herself to stay conscious, her head felt like it was about to explode. She put her hand up to where the pain was and brought it back down to reveal that her hand was covered in a crimson liquid. She gasped, _The President. _She dragged herself to the doorway and pulled herself up. Just as she did she almost landed back on the floor again.

"Whoa got legs." she said to herself.

Once she was okay to stand she slowly made her way to the President's Quarters. Not having ever been in there before, she thought it best to knock. She did so, no answer, and again, still no answer. Just for good measure she banged as hard as she could… nothing. _Right that's it._ She shoved the curtain aside. She gasped. The room was a mess, it had been completely turned upside down. She scanned the room for the President. She couldn't see her, she took a few paces in and flicked the light switch, it didn't do much but she could see well enough. She started to make her way through the objects scattered about. To make sure she didn't trip, she shuffled her feet through the mess, making her feet never leave the ground. This turned out to be a not so smart move. He foot hit something soft and she tripped, hitting the floor with a thud.

--

_She was in the middle of an empty room, listening to the light tapping of the rain on the window outside. The floor of this room was made out of old oak and the walls were painted a bottle green. There was no furniture in the room except a single oak chair. At the other end of the room was a door. It appeared to be the only way in or out. She slowly walked towards the door._

_Tap Tap Tap_

_The rain grew heavier now as she was only metres away from the door._

_Tap Tap Tap_

_She reached her hand up to the door handle and placed her hand on the cold brass._

_Tap Tap Tap_

_She opened the door._

_On the other side was a small living room. It had the normal furniture, couch, TV, coffee table. The room was open to a small kitchen. The walls where a pale yellow and the carpet was brown. In front of the coffee table was a small girl, sitting on a blanket playing with blocks. She looked to around the ages of four. Having obviously heard her come in, the young girl looked up at her. "Mummy!"_

Laura shot awake. Sweat as pouring off her like a fountain, her heart was racing, breathing rapid. Once she had calmed down she rolled over to peer at the clock. It was 0500, she sighed, she had to be up in two hours and there was no way she was going to get anymore sleep. All of a sudden, Colonial One was rocked with such force that she was thrown off her make-shift bed and onto the floor. As she hit the ground, she heard a crack and pain shot through her, the room spun and she welcomed the darkness.

When she woke she heard a banging and the room lit up dully, then someone wading through the mess that was her quarters. She was at a wrong angle to make out the figure. She felt something solid hit her leg followed by a thud and groan.

"Who's that?" she asked, worried that it might be an assassin.

Gaia groaned as she sat up. "It's me Ma'am. Ensign Matthews." she answered.

Laura sighed with relief and cautiously rolled over to face the girl. "What happened?"

"I think something hit us, something big, your quarters are wrecked."

"I know." Laura went to sit up, but was stopped by the incredible pain that seared through her. "Ahhhahaaahhh Ow." she had almost started laughing, and she didn't know why.

Gaia crawled towards her, "Don't move, your bleeding." she stated.

Laura looked up at the girl's face.

"So are you." she gestured towards her temple. Gaia nodded. "I know." "It's all down your face." said Laura. "The blood I mean."

Again Gaia nodded. "I know, I can feel it. Now let me check you over before I go get help." Laura nodded.

Gaia proceeded to check if Laura was hurt anywhere else. At a glance, her legs and arms appeared to be fine. Gaia went straight to the source of the bleed, her stomach. She peeled up the bottom of her top and was shocked at the amount of scars this woman had. Aside from the scars, shadowy patches of healed bruising and the few new bruises forming, her stomach was fine. So _where was all the blood coming from?_ She wondered.

--

/Back on Galactica/

Having been on a night shift, Admiral Adama was already in CIC when the klaxons sounded.

"Lt Gaeta?" he questioned.

"Sir, a lone raider." answered the Lieutenant.

"Bearing?"

"I…I uh can't seem to get one sir, it keeps jumping in and out."

"Alright, launch alert fighters, we need some eyes out there."

"Galactica, Hotdog here. You were right Gaeta it's jumping in a loop."

"Havern't we seen this before?" asked Adama.

"Uh, yes sir, just after the attacks, there was a lone raider that demonstrated the same behaviour." replied Gaeta

"Galactica, Hotdog. It's stopped jumping and is heading straight for Colonial One." He sounded panicked.

"Hotdog, Galactica. Take it out, Now!" ordered Adama.

Over the com, all that could be heard was weapons fire and the occasional explicative.

"Galactica, Hotdog. The raider has been destroyed, but some of the debris made contact with Colonial One. It majorly rocked the ship but there appears to be no hull damage."

"Alright Hotdog bring in you bird." said Adama. He put down the handset and looked at Gaeta.

"Mr. Gaeta, I would like you to establish a com link with Colonial One, find out what there damage is."

"Sir I've already tried, their com system must have been damaged by the hit. If anyone is hurt there is no way of knowing. The only way to find out would be to send over a raptor." explained Gaeta.

"Alright, prepare two raptors full of medical personnel. I will going in one of them. We leave in fifteen." ordered Adama.

"Yes sir."

Adama stalked out of CIC and went directly to the hangar bay. He hoped Laura was ok. _Don't worry, Gaia is taking care of her. _He reassured himself.

**(Yes I am making you wait to find out what's wrong with Laura. Mean I know.**

**BTW, if you were wondering, I did use a line from Stargate. It has got to be one of the best lines in that show, I reckon anyway. Where O'neill gets out of the Asgard pod just after being ancient again, and he stands up and almost hits the deck and says "Got legs" I love it.)**


	7. I'll Live

**(Chapter 7, oh and a suspense cure for Mamabella and BossaNovaBaby24)**

Arriving at the hangar bay, Adama saw the Chief and went to talk to him.

"Chief, are the raptors ready?"

"Ummm… Yes sir, we're just waiting on Doc Cottle to arrive. He was caught up in treating a patient." The Chief glanced over Adama's shoulder and saw the Doctor enter. "Actually, here is now sir. Raptors are ready."

"Thank you Chief."

Adama and Cottle boarded the raptor.

"Sorry Admiral, one of my patients needed urgent treatment. What's the situation?" asked the Doctor.

"Colonial One has been struck by some stray debris. We have lost contact with them. From what Hotdog said, there appears to be no structural damage but the ship was rocked quite severely so we can probably expect some casualties." explained Adama.

The only reply was an irritated grunt from the Doctor.

--

/Back on Colonial One/

Laura looked up at the girl's puzzled face.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Gaia tore her eyes from the woman's scared torso and looked at her.

"Umm… Nothing, just looking for the wound is all." She took a deep breath and went back to looking.

She lifted the President's shirt a little higher. There was so much blood that it was hard to tell where it was coming from. Deciding that she would have to use other means of locating the wound, she put her hands on the President's stomach and started feeling around. She pressed on something hard and the President gasped in pain. _Bingo_. She ripped some material from a near by bed sheet and, as gently as possible, wiped some of the blood around the wound away. As she wiped she noticed two long, white objects poking out of her skin. She turned to look at Laura, she was starting to feel the effects of the blood loss and looked disoriented. Placing her left hand firmly on the wound and her right hand on top, she pressed down, the bleeding slowed.

A few seconds passed and she heard footsteps. She looked up to find Tory standing in the doorway.

"Where have you been?" demanded Matthews.

--

"Sir, we're approaching Colonial One now, preparing to dock."

A few seconds later they docked and disembarked the raptor.

"You two." Adama pointed at two marines. "Go and find out what happened with communications. Doctor?" he turned to look at Cottle who in response set to work, giving orders to his team.

"Alright people we handle this like triage, if they're conscious, they can wait."

They all moved off to find the passengers. Bill made straight for the President's quarters.

--

Gaia stared at Tory, waiting for an answer. Staring at the President she answered.

"I..uh..went to call for help over the wireless but the com system is down." explained Tory.

Gaia shook her head.

"Your first priority is the President, if you had found injured people and were tending to them then that's understandable, but you didn't and you weren't so why weren't you here?" she questioned once more. "It's not your job to contact Galactica for help, there are other people to do that."

Tory looked at her hands and replied.

"I figured you'd be here so I thought it would be okay."

"Tory, what if I had been incapacitated?"

Realisation hit her. "Oh, I didn't think.." Gaia cut her off.

"No you didn't think, try doing a little more of that next time will you please. Now I need you to come here and put pressure on this wound."

Reluctantly, Tory shuffled through the junk, over to them.

"Right, now, once I move my hands, put yours in the exact same place ok?"

Tory nodded. "Ok now." Gaia removed her hands and Tory quickly recovered the wound and applied pressure.

The President was now unconscious and she needed help soon. Gaia stood to go find it. Panicking slightly Tory spoke.

"Where are you going?"

"To find help, she needs it." Gaia exited the quarters and looked down the hall, she saw Doc Cottle and two nurses tending to one of the President's marines. Next to him was Admiral Adama, looking down at the marine.

"Sir, Doc Cottle, in here." Adama and Cottle looked up to see Ensign Matthews point into the President's quarters. She was covered in blood. Cottle turned and said something to one of the nurses, stood and started towards her, a nurse and the Admiral with him.

Cottle and the nurse walked straight past her and went in. Adama and Matthews stood just outside the door. They could hear Cottle tell Tory to "Move her ass out of the way". She did so and shakily got up and stepped back.

The Admiral turned to look at the Ensign and now noticed her attire. She was wearing the regulation sweat pants and a tan tank top that was no longer tan, but crimson.

"Who's blood is that?" he asked.

Gaia who was watching the Doctor work on Roslin, looked at Adama and then down at herself.

"The President's sir." she answered.

His heart stopped, he could not fully see Laura's body, so he did not notice all the blood that had seeped from her. He had only known that she was hurt, not to what extent.

"What happened to her?"

"Everything in there got tossed around a bit, including her. I'm guessing she came off her bed and landed wrong because she has two ribs poking out of her, just beneath her bra." replied Gaia.

Bill felt his chest constrict. Laura had been hurt badly. _Please let her be alright_. He begged.

Cottle and the nurse lifted Laura's limp form onto a stretcher and carried her out. Bill, Gaia and Tory followed. They boarded the raptor and once on Galactica, they made immediately for sickbay. Once there Cottle and his remaining team got to work on their patient. Now feeling slightly calmer, Tory turned to look at Gaia.

"You're hurt." stated Tory.

Bill hadn't noticed before because she was covered in blood anyway, but the girl had a deep cut to her right temple and blood streaming down her face. Gaia looked at Tory.

"I'll live."

**(Yes I know Laura's wound was gory, but no wound is a nice wound so yea. Oh and I did rip into Tory a little, not coz I hate her or anything. Just that if anyone did what Tory did, I'd let 'em know it was stupid, which i think Gaia did. Sorry to all Tory fans out there. Oh and please tell me if I got Doc Cottle down ok. Cheers )**


	8. Aloe Vera

**(Ok well Chapter 8, enjoy. Oh and just to clear it up, everything I put in Italics is either someones thoughts, a dream or a flashback. In some cases it might be like something that someone is reading e.g. The letter Laura got a few chaps back or a book Adama is reading to her.)**

The medical staff worked feverishly around the President. She was barely visible with amount of people swamped around her.

Bill did not know the extent of her condition only that she had lost a lot of blood. Tory had come off without even a scratch, maybe a bruise that's it. Gaia on the other hand had a pretty nasty head wound. Everyone knew that head wounds bled profusely and looked worse than they were.

Turning back to Laura, he saw that the delicate rush of people around her had now quietened to a careful scatter. A couple of nurses had cleared the transparent plastic curtain. Bill looked at one and caught her eye. She smiled sadly and walked away.

Two other nurses and Cottle still remained behind the curtain, it was obvious they were preparing for surgery. _It must be bad_. He thought. One of the nurses who had left earlier, came up and closed and opaque curtain around the transparent one. All they could do now was wait.

"Ok well we all know that none of us are leaving, so who wants the chair?" asked Gaia.

The truth was everyone was too on edge to stay still for long. A nurse came up to Gaia.

"Sir. I need to take a look at that." she gestured towards her temple.

"It's alright." assured Matthews.

"I'm sorry but it's not. That cut looks quite deep and if I don't clean it, it could get infected." pressed the nurse.

Gaia was about to protest once more but was cut off by Adama.

"Ensign go, it's not like you're leaving sickbay, you're just going over there." He pointed to the nearest bed. "Besides, me and Tory are here." he added.

She glared at him and reluctantly walked over to the bed and sat down. Bill was stunned for some reason, she had never glared at him before but it seemed awfully familiar.

The nurse set to work. She gently peeled back Gaia's hair. Her messy curls had gotten stuck to her face because of the blood.

"My name is Ishay." said the nurse.

"Gaia." replied Matthews.

"Are you in the military?" asked Ishay.

"Umm… Yeah. I'm an Ensign."

She nodded and picked up some gauze and soaked it in antiseptic. She started to wipe away the dry crimson liquid around the wound, which made Gaia wince.

"It's gonna need stitches." concluded Ishay.

"Chyeah." Gaia replied sarcastically, still wincing.

2 Hours Later

Just then Cottle departed from the curtained off area, pulled off his mask and stalked over to Bill. He glanced over at Tory who had fallen asleep on Gaia's shoulder, then turned back to Bill.

"How is she?" asked Bill, trying to feign worry.

"Stable." grumbled Cottle. "Two of her ribs perforated her chest. That young lady is one of the luckiest people I know."

Bill looked horrified.

"Lucky?" asked Bill incredulously.

"Yes lucky." answered Cottle. Seeing the look on the Admiral's face he explained. "A person's rib cage is attached to their vertebrate. If her ribs hadn't of snapped when they were dislocated, they would have pulled on her spine. Those two ribs ended up pretty far out of place, so I'd say that the force, speed and power of her injury would have most likely broken her spine. Ergo lucky."

Gaia, who had been listening, spoke up.

"Are we allowed to see her?" she asked.

"Not for a while. I've placed her in a medically induced coma, to give her body a head start. It should wear off by this afternoon, so you can see her then. Even so make it brief." replied to Doctor. "Now you two." He pointed to Gaia and Tory. "Get out of my sickbay and get yourselves cleaned up. The three of you look horrible." ordered Cottle.

Knowing that there was no point in arguing, Adama left. Tory was now awake and found herself being dragged out of sickbay by Gaia. On their way back to Colonial One it was silent. Neither spoke, nor knew what to say.

After departing the raptor they went separate ways. Tory, not knowing what to do with herself, got cleaned up and then started cleaning up the mess that was the President's office and quarters.

Gaia went straight to her quarters and into the head. She took a long look at herself in the mirror. Her shirt was beyond saving so she stripped it off and threw it in the bin. It met the basket with a wet thud. She took a shower, dressed into her uniform and pulled her hair back into a ponytail, also pinning up her fringe. When she was done she exited the head. She had contemplated going back to bed, but sleep wasn't the issue, adrenaline was. She glanced at the clock and found that it was now 1045 hours. Knowing that Cottle would kill her if she turned up at sickbay, she went to find Tory.

She found her cleaning up the President's quarters. She had already done her office and Gaia was stunned at how fast this girl could work. Back on Geminon, it took Gaia three days to clean her room and it would still be a mess.

"Need any help?"

Tory turned around and saw Ensign Matthews in the doorway.

"Yeah, that'd be great." replied Tory.

--

It was now well past 1700 hours and Admiral Adama decided to go to sickbay to see if the President was awake yet. He turned the corned and entered.

"Doctor is she awake?"

"No, but she should be soon. You can sit with her until she does if you like." replied to Doctor.

Bill nodded and walked over to the curtain, took a deep breath and swept it back. He stopped. She looked so pale and weak, her flaming locks spread out on the pillow. Taking another deep breath, he stepped through and closed the curtain behind him, pulled up a chair and sat down. He lightly placed his gruff hand over her small fragile one and curled his fingers around her palm. She was cold. He held her hand just a little bit tighter in hopes of warming her.

She had been hurt, by the cylons. _There was nothing you could have done_. She could have died. _It's not your fault_. Her blood was spilt. _Not on your hands_.

A slight movement under his hand dragged him out of his thoughts. He looked up to see and found two pools of aloe vera staring back at him. She was awake.

**(When I use to read everyone else's stories and I hadn't posted any I was like "Why are the author's so deperate for us to review, I don't get it" well guess what people. Now I get it, PLEASE!! review, I so want to know what you think.)**


	9. The First Tear

**(Ok well, I'm sorry this took such a long time to be up, I've been doing those assignments and still am not done, It took me a while to get this typed up coz of distractions. Chapter 10 is soon to follow, just gotta type that up too.**

**For Em and marg h. Em wanted squee and this is almost squee. And marg h wanted to see more Adama, i think there is more Adama. Mostly A/R teeny tiny Cottle!)**

_He was so glad to see those eyes again._

"Bill." she rasped. Her voice was dry from lack of swallowing. He let go of her hand and quickly stood to get a glass of water. As he went to help her take a drink. Cottle walked through the curtain.

"No, she's nil by mouth." he yelled. Bill looked towards him and gave a look that said 'Oh' and put the cup down. He looked over at Laura.

"Guess you're going to have to do some swallowing." he joked. The look on her face told him that she hadn't found it the least bit amusing. Cottle grumbled by and checked the monitors. "Well young lady how do you feel?" asked the Doctor.

Now that she wanted to laugh at. "I'm… I'm okay." she managed to get out.

"Yes. Well you will be. You were very lucky."

She stared at him.

"Why was I lucky? What happened?" she questioned.

Cottle and Adama looked at each other.

She was lazily lifted her hand and shifted a pointed finger between the two of them.

"Don't look at each other like that, just tell me." she demanded.

Cottle cleared his throat.

"I have some patients to check on. Admiral, I'll leave you to explain the President's condition." He swiped back the curtain and exited.

Bill found himself glaring after the Doctor. He hadn't a clue how Laura would react to her injury, and the fact that she would be staying in this Gods forsaken place for the next two weeks wasn't helping his anxiety. He turned back to Laura and saw her looking back at him expectantly. Waiting for him to explain. He felt like a child in trouble, being scrutinized under her gaze. He began.

"You were in surgery for two hours. They had to reposition two of your ribs on your left side. Apparently when you got flung to the floor on Colonial One, you badly broke part of you rib cage and two ribs ended up braking the skin. You lost a lot of blood."

He paused for a second, waiting for a reply. When none came he continued.

"You were lucky because if your ribs hadn't of broken off from the rest of your rib cage then they would have pulled your spine out of place, snapping it in the process."

She still didn't reply, just went on staring out into space. Realising that his hand was still wrapped around hers, _I hope Cottle didn't notice that_, he gave it a gentle squeeze and she looked up at him.

"I could have died couldn't I?" she asked.

"Could have, but didn't. You're going to be fine, which is a fact I can say I'm quite glad about."

She gave a week smile. He could tell her mind was still ticking over with all the possibilities and what if's. You could tell when she worried because her mouth would twitch up ever so slightly at the corners, forming a 'kind-of' smile. He loved that look, it was bad because it meant she was worried, which is never good. Though it was just something about her, something he could never…

"What had caused it?" she asked all of a sudden.

It had caught him completely off guard.

"What caused what?" he asked back.

"The accident." she answered.

_Oh "_A lone raider was jumping in loops, just like that one from a few years ago. We managed to take it out but some of it's debris collided with your ship before we could stop it. It was going at a considerable speed, that's why it caused the damage it did."

Her mouth formed an 'o', showing her recognition. Once again he continued.

"Colonial One sustained no hull breaches, she was just violently rocked off course. Though the inside is one big mess over there. Everything should be sorted out pretty soon."

All of a sudden realising, Laura spoke.

"Oh my Gods, Tory. Is she okay? And what about Ensign Matthews?"

"They're fine. Tory's a bit shaken up and Ensign Matthews sustained a nasty gash to her head, but she has already been cleared by Cottle." assured Bill.

"What about everyone else on board?" she questioned.

"One of your marines needed stitching up, besides that, just a few bumps and bruises." he answered.

That seemed to calm her slightly, but not completely. That he knew. "One more thing." he announced.

"Hmm?"

"Cottle, the one we all know and love, wanted me to inform you that you're going to be stuck in here for two weeks."

"WHAT??" she exclaimed.

"Look, I know you hate this place and I know you can't even stand he thought. But you're hurt, and you need to heal. So you're staying, end of."

"Really?" she ground out.

"Yes." he affirmed.

"Well Admiral, I'm glad you THINK you know what I think and what I need, but I really don't plan on taking orders form you anytime soon."

She immediately regretted her words as soon as she has said them.

Slightly hurt, he withdrew his hand and stood.

"I did not mean to offend, Madame President, but the thing is, Cottle out ranks the both of us in these situations. And it is one of these situations, I was only the messenger."

With that he turned around and departed the curtain.

The Next Morning - 0900 Hours

Deciding that he didn't like how yesterday was left, the Admiral returned to sickbay to see how the President was doing.

"Doctor."

"Ah, Admiral. Come to see my most stubborn patient of all time?"

"Yes, actually. How is she?" asked Adama.

"Well, we argued for about twenty minutes over her 'sickbay sentence' as she calls it.

_Sickbay Sentence, that's about right. _Bill smiled.

"I told her that she's staying for the duration, even if I have to strap her to the bed." continued Cottle.

"I gather she didn't take to kindly to that comment?" quipped Bill, still grinning.

"Not exactly no. I caught her trying to leave, which resulted in her being a heap on the floor. Almost ruptured my handy work. After that, I realised that she wasn't going to take me treat seriously so I enlisted the marines as help."

"How?" asked Bill. "They're more scared of her than they are of you."

The good Doctor smiled and whispered.

"Ah… yes. But I'm the only one with the last ever bottle of Ambrosia Spice."

Bill laughed.

"Second Last." he whispered back.

Cottle stuck a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. _You'd think he'd have run outta those things by now. _"Now go and see her before I throw you out of my sickbay." he snapped.

Bill smiled and walked over to the only bay with the curtains pulled shut, nodded to the marines and entered.

--

She heard the Admiral enter. The exchange between Cottle and him was amusing, she listened to the Doctor recount how her earlier 'escape artist' routine had faired. She couldn't understand why Bill would come to see her after how she had acted yesterday. She heard his footsteps getting closer, she heard the curtain slide back.

--

She rolled over and he could see that she had been crying. _Did I cause that?_ he wondered. He walked over and sat down in the chair beside her bed.

"How are you?" he asked.

"Alright." she answered.

"Good." he replied.

The air was so awkward around them.

Not knowing where to start, he thought the most obvious would be a good place.

"You've been crying." he noticed.

"Yeah."

"Why?"

The truth was that she didn't want to tell him. Tell him how dying made her feel. How truly scared she was, despite the courage she feigned. Deciding to ignore his question she started.

"How many times do you think I'll be saved before life actually gets me?"

_Hopefully a million. _"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Baltar's miracle cure, cylon Detention on New Caprica, Starbuck's tirade, this. All the while I'm still dying. Why have I had so many chances just for it to be ending again?" she answered.

He could finally see her pain, she had his it well but there it was. By 'it' had she meant her life? He took her hand in his and finally replied.

"I don't know. Though if you hadn't survived all those things, I don't know where we'd all be. Wee need you Laura, I need you. So don't you dare give up, not now, you're gunna get through this."

He could see the tears welling up in her eyes as he spoke. He carefully lifted her hand and gave it a gentle kiss, just as the first few tears slipped out.

"You're gunna get through this." he repeated.

**(A little fact I wanted to let you in on, I actually wrote most of chapter 8 when I was in detention at school, I had an arvo. Coz I am just such a badass.**

**PLEASE... review, I love them now +D)**


	10. Dream A Little Dream

**(I told you all that chaps 9 and 10 were already written. Just needed to be typed. I finished this straight after I put 9 up, but withheld it for dramatic effect. I'm worried I'm giving too much away, though I warn you, if you work it out, there is way more to it than you think. Mamabella, you wanted me to give a bigger hint, so this is for you.)**

_It was raining._

_Tap Tap Tap_

_There was that tapping again._

_She looked around. The TV was on_ _playing the regular morning children's shows. But why?_

_Footsteps? She could hear footsteps, faint and growing louder. Getting nearer. She turned around and saw a little girl wearing a dark purple dress enter the room. She had the darkest brown hair Laura had ever seen, almost black. Her curls fell onto her shoulders. She had to be around four years old. The girl edged closer until she was standing right in front of Laura. Laura looked down to see two light brown orbs staring back at her. Laura crouched down to the girls height, aloe vera pools never leaving chocolate ones. _

"_Where is your mother?" she asked. _

_The girl giggled. "Don't be silly Mummy, you're right here."_

_Laura's eyes widened, but before she could speak the girl screamed. She was looking past Laura, her eyes reflecting horror. Laura stood and swung around to see a man with piercing blue eyes. "What do you want?" she asked, a little uneasy. "You're daughter." he replied._

A scream rang out through Colonial One. Tory had heard it straight away, it wouldn't have been surprising if everyone had. Knowing full well that it was probably just one of the President's re-occurring nightmares, she decided it best to check on her.

"Ma'am are you alright?" Tory asked.

Breathing heavily and with sweat pouring off her she answered. "Yes Tory, go back to bed." Then realized her aide's attire she added. "That is if you even got there last night." "Was just about to Ma'am." replied her aide. Tory left.

It had been one week since Cottle had released her from that place. She still felt sharp pains in her side every now and then, but mostly the painkillers she was already on took care of that. The wound had healed nicely, it had left a visible scar though, just to add to the rest. She still did have internal issues with her ribs, that's what still caused her pains. Every time she took a breath, it hurt. When she went from sitting to standing or sitting to lying, it hurt. Cottle said that it would be a while before she was completely healed. _Can't wait. _She thought sarcastically.

--

_She was watching her favourite morning cartoon while lazily eating her third piece of toast. She heard someone enter and turned around. "Mummy!" she exclaimed while she ran towards the woman. The woman bent down to pick her up, her auburn curls tickling the girl's nose. She giggled. _

"_You're up early sunshine." the woman stated. _

"_I know mummy, I woke up and wasn't tired no more so I got dressed and came out here." she replied. _

"_And I see you found my toast." laughed the woman. She nodded. _

_The woman laughed again and put the girl down. Then walked into the kitchen to make some more toast for herself. The girl returned to her place in front of the TV. _

"_Sunshine don't sit that close, you'll ruin your eyes." said the woman. She shuffled back a bit. "How will I ruin my eyes Mummy?" she asked. "Well, I don't know really, but if you keep sitting that close you might end up with glasses like Mummy." replied the woman. "Glasses are bad?" asked the girl. The woman looked at her. "Not bad, but they're not good. It's better to not have them than have them." answered the woman. "But why?" she continued. "Sunshine just finish your toast." told the woman. She was about to protest but thought it better not to and turned back to the TV._

_A little while later, after she had finished her breakfast and her cartoon was over, she went up to her mother. _

"_Mummy?"_

"_Yes honey?"_

"_Why don't I have a daddy?"_

_Completely shocked out of what she was doing she looked at her daughter. Seeing those pleading eyes, she bent down and scooped her up onto her lap._

"_You do have a daddy, he just isn't here." the woman replied._

"_Then where is he?" she asked_

"_He is with his family."_

"_Aren't we his fwamily?" _

_The woman didn't know how to answer, she tried a child's version of the truth._

"_Your daddy has a different family. He doesn't know that you're his family, but I'm sure if he did, he would be right here with you."_

_She could feel the hot tears beginning to form in her eyes, and she was sure her mother could see them. "He doesn't want to be my daddy?" she stated more that asked, her bottom lip quivering. But before the woman could answer she jumped off her woman's lap and ran for her room. She sat on the floor crying when she heard a noise at her window. She looked up. There was a man with blue eyes outside her window. She got up and opened it. "Who are you?" she asked. He didn't answer but instead grabbed her. She let out a blood curdling scream. Just as the woman came through the door, the man yanked her through the window. She heard the woman yell her name. She screamed back._

"_MUMMY!"_

Gaia woke with a start, lucky she hadn't screamed this time. She turned over, her sheets were wet from sweat. She peered at the clock. _Only 0243. _"Gods." she sighed to herself. She had been haunted by these dreams since she was young. _I wish they'd just go away._

Even though she knew that it would be futile, she decided to try and get some more sleep. Just as she rolled over a sharp scream cut through the air.

**(Worked it out yet?? I'm sure you have, remember there is so much more to it. Please leave a review, and tell me if you've worked it or what your suspicions are. Just so I know where u all stand atm. Thanx)**


	11. Flaming Locks Of Auburn Hair

**(Something else I thought I'd clue you in on, Laura still has her normal, beautiful hair. Not the wig, yet. It really shitted me when she lost one lock of hair and then BAM! she was bald, I think the transition was way too quick, and that they didn't go deep enough into it, for me anyway. So as you can see, I'm taking my time and actually goin into it, like maybe Bill actually finding out before hand and how she got the wig in the first place, and what she intially and still does think about it the wig. You know... stuff!**

**P.S. The name of the chap was inspired by a song by Dolly Parton called Jolene. Em actually was the one who introduced me to it, and I think if any of you get the chance, you should look it up on youtube or something, or listen to it somehow. Coz it is really uncanny how much the song sounds like Laura and Bill from Carolanne's point of view.)**

Gaia sat bolt upright. She had heard a scream. _The President's scream. _Just as she swung her legs over the side of her bed, Tory appeared at the doorway.

"Don't bother." Instructed the aide.

Gaia gave her a quizzical look.

"Just another dream, she's fine." continued Tory. Gaia nodded and Tory left. She pulled her legs back under the covers and laid back down.

This was becoming more frequent, the President's nightmares. She would awake screaming, but never tell anyone why, or what she had dreamt about. With Gaia being on the alert, she would shot awake and rush to the President's quarter's to make sure no one was about to slit her throat. After the first three times, Tory had started coming straight to Gaia to tell her that is was false alarm, and not to worry.

Even though every time the President screamed, Gaia practically knew that it was a bad dream, but she still had to act, because the day she didn't, would be that day that it wouldn't be a dream.

--

"Ahhh". He sighed heavily. He had so much to do, too much to do. _I really need a day off. _He thought. Technically it was his day off but Bill Adama had some tidying up to do, yes that's right "Quarters Cleaning." He had spent most of his time this last month and a half in every other part of Galactica but his quarters. Or so it seemed and looked. The bins were over flowing and they desperately needed emptying.

He started with the head. As he went to pick up the bin and tip it's contents into a plastic bag, he trod on something sharp and dropped what he was holding. He looked down to see his razor and a small pool of crimson liquid forming around it. "Frak it." he cursed. He bent down to pick up his razor and the rest of the mess when he saw it. Lying there wrapped up in a crumpled tissue was a single lock of unmistakable auburn hair.

His heart instantly broke. He knew this was going to happen to her soon, but why hadn't she told him. He had seen it first because it was on the top of the pile of rubbish, which meant that it had been nearly at the bottom of the bin. _Over a month, and she hadn't told me, why? _He couldn't understand it.

--

It was morning and the President was getting ready. As she brushed her hair more stands came away, it was almost noticeable now and soon she would have to do something about it. She sighed, it wasn't comforting knowing that something you've had and even been complemented on your whole life, was going to be, hopefully temporarily, taken away from you. In fact it was quite daunting, she had never been bald, not something that seemed to suit her, and now she had no choice.

When she was done she walked out into her office to find a package on her desk. It was wrapped in brown paper and had sting tied around it. She picked it up and shook it. It made a faint rustling. She turned it over in her hands when a thought suddenly struck her and she quickly put the package down. She started to back away just as Ensign Matthews cane into the room.

Laura looked wide eyed at Gaia, and in response Gaia raised an eyebrow at her. Seconds later Tory walked in to the same sight Gaia had and gave the same response.

"Ma'am is everything alright?" asked Tory.

Laura pointed to the package. "What's that?" she returned.

Tory and Gaia looked at the package. _Uh-Oh._

--

"It's superficial, won't even need stiches." stated Cottle

Bill sighed. "Thanks Doc."

"No problem, now get out, I don't want to see you here again until you next check-up." ordered the Doctor.

Bill nodded and hopped off the bed. It stung a little but that's all. He was walking down Galactica's hall, he put his hand in his pocket, he felt the tissue. He had to ask her.

**(Yes I know the chap was quite short, but I didn't think it should have been longer, I am so sorry for how long this took to go up, technology hates me, my laptop died and took everything with it. Including a story I had just started working on, so I have to wait to get everything off my old hard drive, but I get my new comp tomorrow. The only things I could get back, my writing wise, was 'What is Taken' and my 2 drabbles, coz they were already posted so I just had to save them to this comp.**

**PLEASEEEEEE review!)**


	12. Do You Remember

**(Chapter 12, A/R is Love. So are Hash Browns Snickers Squee Warnings)**

They were all staring at the package. None of them had moved. Tory was about to speak and just in that moment, no other than Tom Zarek, Vice President of the 12 Colonies entered the room. He stopped abruptly, feeling the obvious tension in the room. All three of the women looked up at him. He looked between each of them, trying to work out what they were doing. He spoke.

"Ah... what's wrong?" he questioned.

Tory seemed the relaxed of all of them, Gaia found that odd. The President, clearly getting anxious answered.

"I don't like to repeat myself but it seems that I must." She pointed to the package. "What's that?"

Being the Vice President, Zarek was one of the very few people who knew about Laura's death threats. It now seemed apparent to him what all the tension was about. He decided to play with it a little. He walked up to her desk and picked up the brown papered package and started tossing it from hand to hand, every time making Laura wince. "You mean this?" He liked playing dumb.

"Obviously that." answered Matthews before anyone else could. She new Zarek was playing a game, she knew he had something to do with this or he wouldn't be so sure that that package was safe to touch.

"Mr Vice President, do you know something about this?" It was Laura's turn to question. Tory however was the one that spoke up.

"Ma'am, I was going to say something before but Mr Zarek walked in before I got the chance." She waited a beat before continuing. "That package is a... gift, if you will, from both Mr Zarek and I. Well not really a gift more of something you will need... one day. I asked him for his help, I knew it wouldn't be easy to find and I also knew that Mr Zarek had ties throughout the fleet. It made it much easier." Laura gazed at her young aide for a moment and then turned to Zarek. "Is this true?" she asked him. He nodded. "What's in it?"

Gaia hadn't a clue and Tory wasn't going to answer. "Tell me?" she ordered.

"Laura I suggest you open it later... in private." offered Zarek. She eyed him suspiciously and then walked over to him, he held it out to her. She took it and placed it on her desk. "I will open it later then."

--

Gaia didn't fully trust Zarek and she was not meant to leave the President at any point, but she had insisted and Zarek promised to look after her. Something about that promise made her believe the she was safe, that and the tugging of Tory pulling her out of the room. Zarek had arrived this morning to update the President on some Sagittaron matters.

Gaia now stood with her arms folded, glaring at Tory.

"What?" asked Tory.

"Even if you don't plan to tell me what's in it, next time at least tell me that it's not a bomb. Please?" answered Gaia. Tory nodded and they continued to stand outside the doorway until Zarek left.

--

1700 hours now and the President was still working, she had been snowballed with reports all day and at least another two piles to go before she saw her desk again. A couple of times Tory had attempted to clean it up, but that only got her a snap and glare from Laura, who didn't want anything moved while she still had a faint idea where everything was. As usual Gaia stood in the corner, well, sat in the corner. Laura had seen her standing there for hours and ordered her to "plant her ass" on a chair. Who could argue with that?

--

2000 hours now, and you could see her desk again, everything was nicely back in order. Tory had already gone to bed, at the President's insistence and Gaia was waiting outside Laura's room until she was asleep. A few minutes later, Admiral Adama walked into the President's office and saw Ensign Matthews standing in the far doorway.

"Ensign, is the President asleep?" asked Bill

Gaia thought for a moment, she knew she wasn't, but did she really want to see him?

"No sir, she is... going through a few things before bed."

"May I see her?"

"Yes sir." Gaia stepped aside. She had decided that a good talk with the Admiral was the best thing for her right now. Practically everyone on this ship heard the screams at night, someone had to talk to her.

"Ensign you can go to bed, I'll make sure she is alright." Gaia did so.

Bill pulled the curtain aside and saw Laura sitting on her makeshift bed, hunched over something he couldn't see. He knocked twice on the doorway.

--

Laura had been sitting on her bed for about ten minutes now, contemplating whether or not to open her package. She pulled on the string, hard enough to loosen it a little, but soft enough to make sure it didn't open. If she didn't open it soon she never would. She pulled on the string, harder this time and it fell from the paper. The brown paper still concealed what was inside, she gently touched the edges of the paper and moved them aside. _Oh Tory. _In that moment she heard two raps at the curtain behind her. She quickly folded the paper over again and bent down to slide it under her bed. She stood and turned around to see Bill standing doorway. He smiled warmly at her and she returned it.

He walked further into the room.

"I sent your bodyguard to bed."

"Good, she looked exhausted." said Laura, wondering what he was here for.

"I need to talk to you." Bill blurted out. There was her answer.

"Oh?, what about?" she asked. She motioned for him to sit down, she sat next to him.

"Do you remember our fight?"

She smiled "Which one?" He also smiled. "That time about a month ago, I was drunk and feeling sorry for myself. You were tired and fed-up."

She knew exactly the time he was on about but she definitely didn't want to go there. Blocking him she said with another smile. "Which time?" Again he smiled. "Laura, you know when I mean, why are you stone walling me?"

"Because it's the past Bill, we don't need to go back there."

"On contrary, we do, you just don't want to."

"And you do?"

"No but I need to."

"Why?"

"I found something in my bin that I wanted... needed to talk to you about."

"Like...?"

"This." He pulled the tissue out of his pocket and unfolded it. Laura was shocked, she thought it was long gone and that she would never have to relive that memory again. She was wrong. She turned away from him and stood with her back to him.

"I was cleaning up when I found it by accident. Why didn't you tell me?" he questioned

She turned around, arms folded.

"Bill we had just had probably one of our worst fights, you looked like you were going to be drunk for three more days and I didn't really want to talk about it." She waited. "After that, there just seemed no point to bring it up." He could accept that, but it didn't stop him from wishing that she had told him."How did..." She could tell he was going to ask how it fell out, and she felt like being a smartass but she didn't.

"After you walked out I put my glasses back on and continued working. I ran my hand through my hair and that came with it." She point to the lock of hair in his hands. "That's all." He could see the tears in her eyes now. He had made her cry that night, and he was making her cry again. He wasn't there last time to help her through it, now he is.

"You should get some sleep." He stated.

"All I do is dream the same dream night after night, I'd rather not." She replied.

"Then I'll stay with you."

"Do you think that's such a good idea?" she asked, a little surprised by what he said.

"You need to sleep Laura, that, is a good idea." He knew about the press, but he would handle that if need be. What did need his attention was her, and he was all for giving it.

He motioned for her to sit down and she did. He turned his body towards her and slowly snaked his arm around her shoulders. She leant into his side. She fit their perfectly, as if someone had moulded his side to her shape. He brought his right arm around the front of her and placed it over the top of his left hand. This little act made what was left of her brittle wall crumble. She felt two tears run down either cheek. His chin was rested on the top of her head.

He moved his head down and placed his nose deep into her fiery curls. He took in deep breaths, soaking up the perfume of her hair with every inch of his lungs. He let out a heavy breath and whispered.

"I love the smell of your hair."

This only made the tears fall faster. Fore what was in the package was a wig. Soon what he loved would be gone, just like her hair.

**(Ok you people probably think I'm a right freak writing 2 chapters basically about her hair, but meh. Please Review, this poor shipper girl needs something to read in the A/R drought.**

**URGENT: Chapter 13 may not be up for a couple of weeks, ya see, I have this little problem called school, and 3 assignments sitting on my desk mocking me for the fact that I have to do them. I had extensions but because of computer trouble, I couldn't do them, and well the teachers won't see kindly to that. So I have to get them done before Monday and it is Thursday, cries But I will desperately try to get it up in between, but if I don't, you will know why.)**


	13. The Interesting Thing

**(Ya people ****sorry this took so long, I'm lucky I got this done, i did my 3 assignments and it's like my teachers have a Genie coz when I finished them 4 more magically appeared. Grrr. So here is chapter 13, I reveal some stuff. Well not reveal, more like confirm and elaborate. Haha )**

Laura woke early the next morning to find the arms that were wrapped around her to no longer be there. She figured that he must have left after she had fallen asleep. _Always the gentleman. _She thought. Fighting with the fatigue she sat up and swung her legs over the rack. She ran her hand through her hand and just by pure touch, she knew she'd need that wig today.

--

_Stupid frakking people. Gods._ Gaia internally sighed. The President was in sickbay for her second last treatment. As Tory has said this morning, two more and she was over the hump. She wasn't a people person today, she had days where she basically wanted to slap anyone that opened their mouth. This was one of those days. Out the corner of her eye she saw the Admiral walk into sickbay, quite obviously searching out the President.

"Sir, she is in here." Gaia gestured to the closed curtain behind her.

He nodded a thank you and entered. There was Laura with her head tipped back, book open on her lap and glasses hanging limply from her hand. He carefully took her glasses, folded them up and placed them on the table. He picked up the book, closed it and placed it beneath her glasses and took the seat beside the bed. Looking back up at her now he realised something. She was wearing a wig.

--

Outside the curtain Gaia saw Doc Cottle come out of his office in what she could only call a fluster. He turned to look at her and asked her to follow him back into his office. Once inside and seated he spoke.

"Did your parents die in the attack on the Colonies?"

_What the...? _Surprise covering her features she answered. "Umm... no. Kinda, I don't really know. My dad is alive, he is a miner on one of the Tillium ships. My mother died a long time before the attacks."

Re-adjusting his approach he continued.

"So your biological mother is... deceased and your biological father is in the fleet as we speak?"

She suddenly realised what he was on about.

"Ohhh, no I'm adopted. I don't know who my father is and I left my mother at a young age."

"So you could have already met you real mother and not know it?"

"I suppose it is a possibility, but c'mon. It has been twelve years since I last saw her, our home planets got wiped out, our new planet got invaded and now here we are. The chance that she is alive is very unlikely. But yeah, you never know aye?"

"No you don't. I was going through your recent blood test from our last check up. I noticed some similarities to another blood sample that I have become very acquainted with."

All Gaia could do was stare at him. _Where was he going with this? _"Yeah...?"

"I know who your mother is, and I should have noticed it sooner because now I see the resemblance. You two are a lot alike."

Gaia sighed. _Gods dammit._

"What's wrong?" asked Cottle.

"I WAS hoping that no one had noticed."

"What??"

"I know she is my mother. When I was four I was kidnapped from her. When something like that happens to you, you don't forget many things, no matter your age. I never forgot her face and I never forgot the last moment I saw her. When I met my mother again for the first time she looked at me like I was familiar and I didn't exactly click straight away but I realised soon enough. Twelve years does a lot to a person, I still have my eyes and hair but I doubt I look much like that four year old." She took a deep breath and continued. "My kidnapper took me to Caprica Square and told me to sit on the stone steps and wait. Like I was gunna do that. I legged it. A man named Nathanjel Matthews found me wondering around, things went on from there and he ended adopting me. He and his family have been my only source of family since." She looked at her hands, not sure of what to expect now.

He waited, letting the story he had just heard take hold. He spoke.

"Why won't you tell her?"

"I have my reasons."

"And they are...?"

She smiled.

"All you need to know is that there are reasons for my decision. I just need to you to promise me that you won't tell her. Please?"

"For now. You as you say obviously have a good reason."

"Yes well the good thing about being the President's daughter is that you never have to explain yourself. To anyone. That's her job." She grinned.

--

Bill was finding himself starting to drift off now. The interesting thing is that you never realise how tired you are until you relax, and then you can't get up. If he didn't move now he might be here for the night, and his back could take that. He gingerly stood and stretched. He looked at Laura, taking her in, she looked so calm, the calmest she would probably ever be. Though something told him that her sleeping state was one of the main elements to her stress, it didn't stop her from looking serene though. He leant over and placed the lightest kiss on her forehead. Standing up straight he turned to leave, giving her sleeping form one more look, he exited the curtain. He saw Gaia coming out of Cottle's office and nodded to her. She smiled back and watched him leave the sterile confinements of sickbay, going back to his daily routine.

**(Oh ma garrd. This took me ages and I am so so sorry. My life is insane I mean it is so busy yet boring. WTF?? Anyway don't ask me when 14 is coming out, I don't remember much about the details going into that chapter so I guess you'll see it when you see it. Enjoy and please please review!)**


	14. JUMP!

**(This is more of an update or sorts. I'm planning for this to be really short, I know where my story is gunna end up but I'm not entirely sure on how it's gunna go about it. I literally just thought of something so this might be quite adequate after all. Hold on children. P.S I listened to Anywhere by the Presets while writing this and this song is really suspense full to me so... teeheeheehee)**

"They've taken heavy damage." stated Hoshi.

"I didn't think that they could have sustained anymore that the last time we saw them." said President Adama.

Saul nodded in agreement. "You thought wrong."

"Sir the cylon base star is requesting to speak with you."

Adama nodded. "Thank you Mr. Hoshi."

"Déjà vu." murmured Saul.

--

A few weeks later

"You are kidding..." exclaimed Gaia. "That prat is my father?"

--

2 Weeks Previous

"Where did they come from?" asked Roslin.

"They look pretty beaten up." noticed Saul.

"Sir they are wishing to speak with you."

Adama picked up the receiver and motioned for Tigh and Laura to do so as well.

"Admiral Adama here..."

--

"We became divided according to models. The 2's, 8's and 6's have come to believe that our destiny lies in seeking out the final five. The 1's, 4's and 5's violently opposed such action."

"We know that there are seven different models of cylons, you only mentioned six."

"The threes, the D'anna's. They were boxed after the battle on the algae planet." Said Sharon.

"Boxed?" asked Tigh.

"Her entire line was punitively deactivated. Her consciousness placed in a boxing facility." explained Natalie.

"Why?" grumbled Adama.

"D'anna saw the faces of the final five which was forbidden, but if we un-box her, she can reveal their identities to us." continued Natalie.

"The final five have been to Earth." And there is was, the magic word. Only Starbuck could have said it. "If we help find them they can help us get there."

"Our ship can heal itself but most of our raiders were destroyed in the ambush. We're asking for your help here we can't do it on our own."

Roslin finally speaking up for the first time. "What could possibly motivate us to trust you now, what have you got?"

"The boxing facility resides within the cylon resurrection hub, this hub controls the functions of every resurrection ship in existence..."

"It protects itself by periodically jumping to a new set of coordinates and then relaying them back to the base ship..."

"Madame President, you ask for a reason to help us? Vengeance." One word that all humans seek. "You destroy the hub, cylons lose their ability to download... all of us."

"Why would you be willing to lose your ability to resurrect?" asked Roslin.

"We're rebels." answered Natalie. "We can't go back. What matters most to us, is being with the five. D'anna will be able to identify them. We'll take you to the hub, if you help us un-box D'anna."

"Give us the coordinates to the hub first." ordered Adama.

"No I won't do that I said we would take you there."

Adama stared into those blue eyes. "Take her out, we're finished."

"Wait, is your word good Admiral? I'll give you the coordinates but I want you word."

"Stand down... you have my word."

"Once their identities are revealed, and we come back here, we'll be free to leave your fleet with the five." It was more of a certainty than a question. "Yes, they're here with you. The final five are in your fleet. That's why our raiders turned back the attack in the nebula."

--

Laura saw someone out of the corner of her eye and looked up to see Kara Thrace standing by her curtain.

"I gotta hand it to you, if you are a cylon that was a great plan. Dangle yet another way to Earth, throw in the hub, the final five and the real kicker put the final five on the fleet, even I couldn't pass that one up."

Kara was stunned. "You are having those visions aren't you?"

Laura shook her head and tried to ignore her by going back to reading, Kara stepped in closer.

"Thus shall I come to pass, the dying leader will know the truth of the opera house."

Laura's head shot up.

"What did you say?"

Kara began to repeated herself. "Thus shall I come to pass..."

"The opera house." hissed Laura.

"The dying leader shall know the truth of the opera house."

"Where di.. where did you hear that? Who told you that?"

"The hybrid, on the base ship before they unplugged it."

"The hybrid?" whispered Laura."How does the hybrid know what's in my dreams?"

"I wish I knew," replied Kara.

Laura shook her head, "This has got to stop. These visions, I have got to find out about these visions. I've gotta know. Will you help me?"

"Yes."

"Find Captain Agathon" ordered Laura.

--

"Plug it in." ordered Roslin. "I need to do it."

"Let God's will be done."

"Shut up." ordered Laura "It's time to get some answers."

The hybrid gasped to life. "JUMP!"

**(Yeah guess what... I ended up with 14 assignments in the space of a month. For fucks sake I got buried. Anyhoo... this may seem quite pointless but I know how I'm getting there now and it will all soon fall into place. You'll see ;D. Review as always. Please.)**


	15. All that remained was Searider Falcon

**(Don't worry marg h I haven't forgotten you. Yes well a while ago margh asked for more of Adama and I gave a chapter of Adama... well this chapter is full of Adama.)**

"Recon raptor just reported back the resurrection hub is gone. No sign of the base ship carrying the President, assuming that's where they were headed."

"They were determined to resurrect the Three, the one we used to call D'anna. To do that they gotta go to the hub. You find it we'll find them." concluded Adama.

"Easier said than done..."

Adama cut him off. "...Maybe."

"We got other problems. Starbuck's having trouble fielding enough planes to fly a standard CAP. Wants us to consider having the fleet bunch up tighter so it's easier to defend." Tigh told him.

"Means counting on a bunch of civies flying close formation. Organise it." commanded Adama.

--

Adama walked down the corridor to his quarters. Her raptor had been found abandoned and damaged, thankfully without her in it, but it still begged the question as to where the frak she was. All that remained was Searider Falcon.

His last conversation with Saul glimmered in his mind.

"_I'm afraid it paints a pretty clear picture." he said._

"_They found the hub and destroyed it." Yes I was clinging on to almost false hope, but I can't give up on her._

"_Bill you are way to close to this. The President's base ship was destroyed."_

"_It's a different base ship." SHE IS NOT GONE!! I scream it in my mind. "We'll search every square inch of this debris field until we come up with a clue."_

"_What and leave the rest of the fleet back there with their ass's hangin' in the wind?" It was obvious he couldn't understand my decision. How could he?_

"_Detail four raptors to stay behind. They keep searching until they find something concrete. Give my order!" I growled it to him, it was my order. His face expressed complete bewilderment. But I don't care!_

He figured that it was too late now, what was done was done. He had just been to see Cottle, he had to know how Laura would be doing. All the Doctor had said was that he had to get her back here as soon as possible, that suited him fine. Doctor Cottle also had some other news for him...

--

Adam poured himself a glass of Ambrosia, figuring he'd be needing it to numb some sort of pain. Saul talked to him, but he wasn't listening. He was more interested in what information had come to his attention.

Adama confronted him and he didn't deny it, he seemed as shocked he did.

"You're risking it all for a woman!" Tigh yelled.

"You watch what you frakking say about that woman, she is the President not some frakking skinjob.

Adama brought up Ellen. And it was all over. Tigh swung and connected with Adama's face, knocking him over along with books and a table. Adama gutted him and pinned him to the wall, punching him as he did. Tigh blocked him andknocked him back and onto the couch,Tigh thenstarted punching Adama repeatedly.Adama kicked Tigh off. He would have to fix that frakking boat again.

"What are you gunna do about Laura if you ever find her?" asked Tigh.

"I don't know." answered Bill.

--

"I'm counting on this being permanent."

"What if it is?"

Bill put his pins down on the table.

"Put these on." He instructed. "You lead the people to Earth as best you can, the fleet has stayed here to long already."

"Any other last orders?"

"Just one." told Adama. "Give Athena back her daughter, she needs her family. We all need our family. Take care of this one.

--

He had to explain it to his son. Why he was staying behind, Lee couldn't understand it. We were talking about Zarek.

"I don't know if I agree with your thinking but." said Bill.

"Well I could say the same thing about yours." retorted Lee.

"The only difference is that your gunna be President, I'm just getting on a plane." explained Bill.

"Waiting alone on a raptor while the rest of the fleet jumps away, that's no just getting in a plane. That sounds a lot like... err it sounds a lot like suicide Dad."

_Well what is my life without her? _Thought Adama.

"Well at least this time I'm only risking my own neck."

"So I guess it won't matter if as President I order you not to do this?" asked Lee. Hoping to get him to reconsider.

"I don't know if I ever told you this but, one of my first missions, was a solo recon. Me alone in a raptor, in enemy space. I'm not gunna lie to you, I was scared. Told myself that I was doing my duty and ultimately I faced my fear. That's a good memory. _Well that's an obvious no to my question. _Thought Lee.

"Why are you doing this?" He had to know.

"Because I can't live without her. And Laura's gunna get to the rendezvous point, I have to believe that."

--

And so there he was, watching them jump away until he was finally, alone. So he put on his glasses and opened up Searider Falcon.

**(Jeez Ashley this has taken me yonks to get up aye? I'm sorry guys, been mega busy. I have exams in less than two weeks as well so I thought I'd take a half hour to pop this out for you all. I hope you enjoy, as always review please.)**


	16. A Barren Battlestar

**(Hey guys I'm so sorry for the wait. I suppose cause of the Hiatus and lack of BSG vibe I just haven't been in the mood for writing. But the vibe is beginning to reappear and I have nothing else better to do. Enjoy**

**P.s Do forgive me, usually my canon parts of my fics are completely quoted. But I'm not doing that with this chapter.)**

Two days ago

"Plug it in." ordered Roslin. "I need to talk to it."

"Let God's will be done."

"Shut up." ordered Laura "It's time to get some answers."

The hybrid gasped to life. "JUMP!"

---

It was dark, grey and strangely quiet. She had never seen Galactica this barren before. She had no idea why or how she was even back on Galactica. The sound of the air filtering throughout the ship was all she could hear, it was oddly comforting.

She looked the walls up and down, so glum and plain. She turned around slowly, but was stopped suddenly by a familiar face.

"Elosha, Oh my Gods." Disbelief racking every inch of her, she stepped forward and hugged her friend.

---

"Filters filters, the sublime elevation of the..." The hybrid started muttering in the background.

"Why'd it jump, where are we?"

"I'm more concerned about why we're here."

"Why don't I talk to the Hybrid, find out why?" Baltar chipped in.

"She can just do that, she can just..."

"JUMP!"

---

She was back in the barren Battlestar. Her friend once again, by her side.

"Will you walk with me?"

She gave a nervous smile and stepped forward, and began walking. She spoke.

"Galactica, it... what's going on it's empty."

"It is." responded her Elosha. "Feels bigger this way doesn't it?"

They turned a corner, and she could hear the faint beeping of a machine.

"It's so quiet, it's strange."

"A Lot of things are strange."

They rounded a corner, and the beeping became louder.

Someone was struggling to breath. It was a painfully horrible sound, but not as horrible as the sight that lay before Laura's eyes.

Her own self, dying, right in front of her eyes.

---

"...the dove drown out the heartbeats of those who follow. The six is back in the stream."

"That's unusual, jump again so quickly." said the Eight.

"What do you think it means?" asked Roslin.

"Look it knows me, it trusts me, I think, I think it even likes me." croaned Baltar.

"The hybrid is panicking and I don't know why."

Baltar was in the background, attempting to ask the hybrid why it jumped.

"Natalie our leader, has either been hurt or killed back on Galactica. That's why the hybrid's panicking." relayed the Eight.

"Can you calm her down, tell her to jump back?" asked Roslin.

"She makes her own decisions."

Baltar proceeded to try to calm the Hybrid, and it appeared that he was successful, until...

"JUMP!"

---

She was back on Galactica, watching herself die. Cottle, Adama, Lee and Kara surrounded her.

Elosha got close to the dying woman, told her how these people were her family, but she was their President. Kara turned to Lee and sought comfort. She wouldn't have expected that kind of emotion from Kara at her death bed.

Laura watched as Adama put a hand to her own forehead, while holding her hand. She watched peculiarly, studying what was going on. Elosha told her she didn't make room for people, she didn't love people.

---

"Just ask it already."

"I've been told you said something about an Opera House. And I'm.." She looked to Baltar, "Because it seems pointless."

"Look there was an Opera House. An Opera house, are you listening to me? Apparently I was in the Opera House." Baltar was getting impatient.

"I had a vision, I was chasing after a little girl, I came to a door. I saw, Doctor Baltar and the Six, take the child. And, she's not listening."

"...close the doors, protect the child."

"Protect the child, she said protect the child. That's what Caprica Six said she was doing in the dream."

Baltar and Roslin began to argue about the vision.

"...no you're not, because I'm actually focusing on her. Alright? NOW TELL US WHAT HAPPENED IN THE OPERA HOUSE NOW, ALRIGHT?"

"Oh the only think you're doing, is yelling." retorted Laura.

Baltar's tactic worked, and Roslin asked him to do it again.

"I'm going for a walk, I'd love to see you do any better." pushed Baltar.

"Alright I'll do it, OPEN THE DOOR."

"Three, the three is online, the three is online." gasped the hybrid.

"The three is online? The three is online? The three is D'anna. D'anna is online, oh D'anna is in a body."

"JUMP!"

---

_Beep Beep Beep_

"Why are we doing this, I don't want to see this again."

"The ancients use to say that the people are only as strong as the body of it's leader."

"If I follow that thought, are you saying humanity died because I died?" If you're my subconscious... then I have to say you're a little full of myself." quipped Laura.

"Humanity didn't die because you did. The ancients got a lot of things wrong. The body of a people isn't as strong as the body of it's leader, but it's soul and spirit might be." answered Elosha.

"Oh so you're only laying morality on my people? That's okay I can take that. I mean my sins aren't as bad as some others." replied Laura.

"You mean Gaius Baltar don't you?"

"_...and I dug into the stump and pulled rocks from the ground until my fingers bled. I collected seeds from the few fruits the land offered and planted them in long, straight furrows. Like the ranks of soldiers. When I had finished I looked at what I had done, I did not see a garden, I saw a scar. This island had saved my life, and I had done it no service."_

_---_

Baltar was talking to a centurion when two missiles impacted the rebel base star.

"Put him over there. Easy, easy. Find out what's going on." ordered Roslin

"Yes Sir."

Laura pulled Baltar's hand away, and it made a horrible squelching sound. She placed a swab over the top of the wound. She went back searching through the med kit for pain killers. Once she had found some she jabbed some Morpha into Baltar.

"Thank you" murmured Baltar.

"It's the least I can do. I think you're gunna live, as usual." replied Laura.

"You know something?"

"What?"

"You're very pretty.

Roslin just looked stunned, she almost laughed.

"Yeah, that Morpha works fast."

"Still." Baltar sighed contently. "Do you know why I feel so serene right now?"

"Because you're doped out of your mind?" returned Roslin.

"Because I know God. You need God Laura. Really you'd be a different woman. I know God, therefore I know myself. Truth is, I was harbouring the most awful, desperate guilt."

Laura froze.

"What was your guilt about?" Laura cautiously questioned.

"I have no guilt."

"What was your guilt about?" Laura emphasised the was.

The air was thick, in suspense for the answer she awaited.

"I gave the access codes to the cylons. They wiped out most of humanity. Of course I didn't know what I was doing at the time exactly. And when I'd realised what I'd done, the magnitude, in that moment I was saved. I was loved. By God. Looking back, I think I was rewarded."

Laura couldn't believe the confession of the man in front of her.

"Rewarded?" she almost whispered.

Laura listened to him continue, trying desperately to hold back her emotion, so much that she was shaking with the very essence of it.

"Pray with me?" requested Balter.

Laura said okay.

She lazily, as if under some spell, got to her knees, and peeled off the swab on Baltar's wound. The only thing separating him from death. She took it away.

"Don't do this to me, please?" pleaded Baltar.

The ship jumped.

---

Back in sickbay, aboard a barren Battlestar. Roslin was once again watching herself die.

"What do you want from me here?"

"_Laura?" called Adama._

"Just love someone." said Elosha.

"Love." She laughed.

She watched Adama as the slow steady beeps of the machine became one long drawn out one. Striking him to the core, and forever haunting. He looked at her, with tears in his eyes and bent down to kiss her on the lips. She was still warm and he couldn't fathom, how life changed to death so easily, so quickly.

"_You go, you go, you go you rest now. I'm not gunna be selfish anymore. You go, rest." Laura watched Adama grieve over her lifeless form. She watched him cry, his eyes full of sadness. She didn't realise how much he did truly care for her. She was surprised, as she watched him pull off his wedding ring and place it on her finger. Still tightly holding her hand._

---

Roslin came back to reality and started to freak out. Realising what she had done to Baltar and the state she left him in. She tried to rectify her actions, and begged for him to live.

---

D'anna arrived, and ran straight to Gaius, concerned over the state he was in. Laura ordered Helo to make sure no one came in.

"I s'pose you've got some questions for me?"

"Yes I do. I want to talk about the five cylons in my fleet." answered Roslin.

"So you know about the final five?"

"I know they're suppose to know the way to Earth."

"But you don't know that you're one of them."

For the second time that day Roslin froze. Completely shocked by the revelation that she was a cylon. But D'anna started laughing.

"I'm not telling you anything. Cause information is all I got sweetie."

---

The ship jumped.

"You lied to me." stated Laura.

"Did I?" asked Elosha.

"I thought I was earning humanity's right to survive."

"Oh, it's not a vending machine Laura. You don't save a life and cue the celestial trumpets here's the way to Earth."

"I know."

The ship jumped again.

Elosha spoke. "Disorienting isn't it? All this little limping steps back?"

"I like it." replied Laura. "I'm use to it, every jump brings us closer to home, Galactica, my home. Maybe there's something there for me." thought Laura.

"Maybe, even closer." said Elosha.

---

Bill was sitting in the back of the Raptor, reading Searider Falcon when something jumped into view. The Basestar.

---

The raptor door opened.

Adama stepped out.

"Missed you."

"Me too."

Bill moved to embrace her, wondering about the blood on her shirt.

She let out a breath, feeling so close to home, and so safe in his arms.

"I love you." she said.

He seemed to relax, as if he had been living his life only to hear her so those words. He broke the contact.

"It's about time." was all he said. There were tears in her eyes that only seemed to make them shine more. He kissed her temple and she flung her arms around him one more time.

---

"There are four in your fleet." corrected D'anna.

"Four? Where 's the fifth?" questioned Laura.

"I want, the four in you fleet."

"I'm going to hold your people hostage until the final four are safely aboard my ship." Bill couldn't believe this woman. She was getting on his last nerve.

"You need to stand down Bill." He could hear Laura in his ear. And he didn't need to do anything. "C'mon, trust me." He relented. "Stand Down."

D'anna started talking.

"I'm already had an Eight prepare a raptor so we'll launch as soon as we come out of the jump. Oh and Admiral, you'll be coming along with me to Galactica."

Bill looked at Laura. "I'm not going." He wasn't going to leave her on that Base Ship any longer. "Bill go." She stepped forward to embrace him, to whisper to him. "If the cylons get the four they get Earth, you can't let this happen. Even if you have to blow this ship to hell."

Was she serious?

---

D'anna and Adama found the fleet and landed on Galactica.

"Admiral, is the President okay?" Gaia was frantic.

"Yes she is, she and the rest of them are being held hostage until the final four cylons in the fleet go with D'anna." answered Adama, at first talking to Gaia then began addressing the whole room.

D'anna spoke up. "Yes that's right, they will be loved and cared for. We just want them to join their people."

Tory asked to go, Tigh said no, stating that they didn't need more hostages. But Tory insisted. "I've served under Roslin for two years, my place is by her side."

Gaia was getting ancy, she wanted to know if Laura was okay, and she wanted to go to that Base Star. She stepped forward.

"Sir, I wish to go as well. Tory is her aide and I'm her personal guard. When she first went over to that Base ship, she refused to let me come, and you backed her up on it. We are all together now, so I wish to see if she is okay, just like Tory does."

"That will be two more of our people they get. Sir, you can't send more hostages so the cylons." Tigh felt uneasy, being under such scrutiny from D'anna was torture.

"Two more hostages aren't going to change the equation. Let them go." said Adama.

---

D'anna, Tory, Gaia and an Eight walked through the corridors of the Base Ship.

On the Raptor, Tory had handed Gaia the President's medication and told her to find her and make sure she got it. Gaia took the bottle and didn't ask questions.

"You don't look so good." Tory said to Gaia.

"Yeah well this isn't exactly my comfort zone. You look like it's yours though." Tory smiled and they kept walking. They entered the control room.

"Brothers and Sisters, this is a great day for us, one of our lost has returned. The Eight and D'anna pushed Tory forward. Gaia was frozen. They all swarmed Tory and started asking her questions. Gaia slowly took a few steps back, and when she was satisfied that they hadn't noticed, she turned around and ran. She passed a centurion and stopped. She had heard that they were free thinking now, maybe one could tell her where the President was.

She cleared her throat. "Errm... hi" She smiled, completely unsure how this would turn out. "Would you happen to know where I could find Laura Roslin? the President of the Colonies. I can't seem to find her." She smiled again. The centurion regarded her for a moment then it turned and started walking. Gaia decided to follow. They came to stop at the entrance to a small room. The centurion looked at her and then turned and walked back the way they had come. "Thank you!" She yelled after it, and then turned and entered the room. She could hear muffled voices.

"I wouldn't... be so grateful if I were you. You should know that I told the Admiral that if D'anna doesn't back down he should blow the ship to pieces."

"You what?"

Baltar saw Gaia enter the room. And Roslin followed his line of sight until she saw Ensign Matthews.

"Madam President. Doctor Baltar." Gaia was still out of breath, just from how fast her heart was pumping. She somewhat regained herself and walked up the Roslin. Roslin began to stand.

"Ensign." Laura's voice was but a whisper.

"No, it's ok, sit." Gaia stopped her and Laura sat back down.

"I brought you your medication." Gaia handed it too Laura.

"Oh my Gods." Laura looked up at Gaia. "How did you manage that?"

"Well I came back with D'anna on the Raptor. Tory came as well, saying she needed to give you your medication but that's not why she came.

"What do you mean?" asked Roslin.

"Well on the Raptor she handed me your meds and told me to give them too you. I couldn't work out why but I said I would anyway. We go to the control room and D'anna introduced Tory as one of the Final Five. I didn't feel like sticking around so I just ran, found my way here. Amazingly." She looked the walls up and down as she said the last word.

Laura couldn't believe what she was hearing. Tory? She would never have guessed. It made Laura think that she should ponder what else she has gotten wrong.

"Doc, you okay." asked Gaia, as if she had only just noticed the bandage around his torso.

"Oh yea just a little cut, nothing... serious."

Roslin looked at him incredulously and Gaia just laughed.

---

"Get me the Base Ship." ordered Lee.

"If you do not release the hostages Saul Tigh will go out a jet tube door. So will Sam Anders and Galen Tyrol."

"He's found them." said D'anna. "Target their civilian fleet.

---

Kara Thrace had died, then she had come back, telling everyone that she had found Earth, no one believed her. She had been put in the brig, but she was out now that people saw her as no threat. Her brand new viper sat in the hangar deck, no one could work out how she came back with a new viper. She sat in it's cockpit, flipped the switches and waited. Something was telling her to watch and wait. Anders had told her that the Viper was special and for her to find out why. She turned the wireless control and found a signal, a signal to Earth.

She had to stop Lee from killing the cylons.

She ran, she ran through the corridors, up the ladder to another level of the ship, through the hangar bay and stopped him just in time.

"Those frakking cylons just gave us Earth."

---

They had been jumping for four days now and they were one jump left until reaching Earth. Hope was in the air.

**(Ok well, that was quite long. I'm so sorry for the wait, I've been meaning to get this up for months. So I hope you enjoy and please review.)**


	17. Dear Daniel

**(Hey look I updated quick this time. Yeah I had to kinda get back into it and all. Enjoy!**

**BTW, as you know, in the last chapter Gaia was the one to find Laura instead of Tory. Gaia was actually meant to be on the Base Star with Laura when it jumped, but it took me ages to write the chapter and I hadn't realised that I'd forgotten Gaia until near the end. And I couldn't be bothered to go back and re-write it, so it goes that Laura made her stay behind.**

**This chapter is for ****McGonagallFan, not because she asked for it, but because she gave me a kick ass review for my last chapter. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. :D**

**Oh and I have chapters 18, 19 and 20 written already so just tell me when you want then up.)**

_Dear Daniel,_

_Tomorrow is the big jump, the one that will take us all to Earth. To be honest, I really can't wait; this is what I and countless others have been so painstakingly crawling towards._

_I sit on my bed as I write this, working out whether or not I should bother going through the frustration of trying to put that silver ring in. In my lip that is. _

_On New Caprica, before the Cylons had founds us and everyone lived peacefully. I found out that you were still alive, you were one of the longest friendship I had ever had. I met you when she was only four, you were an orphan just like me. I thought you were killed in the attacks of our home worlds, but it turned out that you had survived. _

_One day when we were walking through the market place on New Caprica, you suggested that I do something radical. At the time, I could only cringe at your words because radical to you was not exactly everyone's pick. I asked you what you had in mind and you told me that I should get a tattoo. All I could do was stare at you wide eyed and you just laughed at my reaction. I explained to you that even though the human race was in tatters, I was still underage. You then suggested I get something pierced. I was still unsure but you managed to sway me, saying that yes the human race was in tatters but we were still teenagers and now was my chance to do something with you that we could both remember and laugh at._

_I still sit here, the memory of that day twinkling in my mind. I had ended up getting my lip pierced, I still can't remember why I picked something on my face. Though you were right, it was a memory that I would remember and laugh at later, but I do so one my own. You were killed on New Caprica during the rescue operation of our people. I never saw your body, but you never got off that planet, so I'm sure that you are dead by now._

_Every night I put my lip ring back in, I only keep it because it is my last link to you. I don't want it to close up because, it would be like you're really gone, but you are still here in my mind and my heart. So I keep it for you._

_I suppose I should get to it now and go and put it back in, before I fall asleep on this very spot. Goodnight Daniel._

_Gaia._

She got up from her bed and went into the bathroom. She carefully placed the ball on the thread of the ring and began screwing it on. When she was satisfied that is wouldn't come off in her sleep. She turned the lights off and went to bed. Tomorrow was the beginning of mankind's survival. At least that's what everyone hoped.

---

"We've projected a course towards the signal. It will probably take some revising as we go but, this is our destination right here." Lee placed his finger on the star chart on the table in front of them. "Earth." Lee stood up straight. "So, what are your orders Admiral?" asked Lee.

"Orders?" He said it like it was a stupid question to ask.

"Are you ready to take us to our new home?" Lee continued.

"Ahh, I don't know." Was he giving up?

"You don't know what? Hmm?" He'd lost hope, maybe she could convince him to go down.

"What don't you know about? Hmm?" She had that tone, that tone that could get through concrete. At times Bill Adama was concrete, but to her he was an open book, she knew him, and she knew every way to get through to him.

"It's good to see you." he said. And it truly was, all he could think was that, she loved him. She had said it. And she had meant it.

"Bill, this is it. This, is it. This is everything that we have been working for."

Lee regarded is father. Wondering what was going through his mind at that moment. With her hand on his father's arm. And a serious tone in her voice.

"I wanna see you pick up that first fist full of Earth." Adama looked straight at her. Then to his son. He knew then that they were going to Earth.

He got up to go get dressed. Laura had a small conversation with the newly appointed President, who had gotten the job in her absence.

---

Laura, Lee, Adama and I stood in CIC, all of them desperate to get this jump underway.

"Fleet in jump formation standing by." Announced Dee, she was leaning with one arm on the panel in front of her.

Laura and Lee looked up at the screens above us, anticipation written all over their faces.

"Board is green. Ship reports ready to jump Admiral." That was it, we were ready.

"Very well." said the Admiral, he then looked over at the President, Laura. He told her that without her we wouldn't have made it. You could see she was close to tears, that small worried/anxious smile that she would acquire every now and then told me that, along with the slight glisten in her eyes.

"Give the order."

She smiled and put a hand to her face turning around to look at everyone as she did. She then quickly turned back with a serious look on her face and took a breath in. I don't know if it was relief or some sort of excitement, but I knew we were all feeling it.

"It's been a long time coming." She said.

Lee stood silently throughout all of this. I think he just wanted it over as much as I did.

Laura took another breath in and slightly shook he head to regain her composure. She heavily said okay. She looked Adama in the eye.

"Take us to Earth." she had given the order.

She ship slowly shrunk down as it usually did for a jump. Dee started counting down.

"5."

Adama's face was solemn and he leant heavily on the console in front of him, as if he was bracing himself. He was ready.

"4."

Laura was still looking at Adama, her acquired smile in place. She was ready.

"3."

Everyone in the room was ready.

"2."

I was ready.

"1."

We were ready.

"Jump."

---

"Jump complete."

"DRADIS is clear." stated Gaeta.

"Fleet is checking in."

They all stared up at the screens.

"Sir, there is a ship missing." said Dee.

Laura froze. Adama turned to look at Dee.

"What?" he growled.

Dee swallowed hard. "There is a ship missing Sir, it's the Rebel Base Star. They either didn't jump or jumped to the wrong coordinates.

Adama turned back to face the dradis table.

"Bill we can't go back for them. This is Earth. We are here. The fleet has waited too long for this." whispered Laura.

"Dad, we have to go back for them, if we don't, that alliance we just made, will be flushed out the air lock." argued Lee.

Adama thought about both points. He looked at Laura.

"Lee's right, if we want any of our recent actions to have meaning, then we have to go back for them."

She couldn't believe he was even considering it.

"Admiral..." Laura began but Gaia interrupted her.

"Sir, we don't have to take the entire fleet, just send a raptor or two to find out what happened, and if they are found, bring them back." Adama looked at the girl as she spoke. She was right.

"Okay, but before we do anything. I want to know if we are even at Earth. NAV?" replied Adama.

"Confirming position." said Gaeta.

"Take your time, get it right." ordered Adama.

Gaeta turned around slowly, a dramatic atmosphere building. He spoke.

"The constellations are a match."

Did this mean? Laura's composure was slowly breaking away, bit by bit. It was what they had been working towards for so long. Laura smiled and put a hand to her nose. Gaia was still doubtful, she needed someone to say those five words.

Adama picked up the receiver to address the fleet.

"Crew of Galactica, people of the fleet, this is Admiral Adama. Three years ago I promised to lead you to a new home. We've all endured a difficult journey, we've all lost, we've all suffered. And the truth is, I questioned whether this day would ever come, but today our journey is at an end."

Gaia watched and Lee and Laura struggled to control their emotions. But Gaia couldn't share their joy. Something inside her told her that today wasn't a happy day. That this journey was far from over. Adama continued to speak.

"We have arrived, at Earth." Bill took Laura's hand and put down the receiver, not bothering to even put it back in it's holster. He pulled her into a hug, and just as he did, CIC erupted into cheers. People were hugging, punching the air, clapping. Gaia and Lee watched them all, tears in our own eyes now, reality had definitely hit them, those five words had been spoken.

Lee climbed onto the dradis console, obviously feeling a need to go wild. He ripped off his jacket and screamed at the top of his lungs as he threw it across the room. You could barely hear him, the celebrations were much louder. Gaia just stood there, so happy to see everyone else so happy. Would it however, be short lived?

**(Ok well, see that was quick wasn't it. So quick that I actually had to WAIT to add this :D. BTW with the bit at the start. I thought I'd give Gaia a bit more of a life and background. As for her lip piercing, over a month ago I got my lip pierced and I felt like giving her character a sweet little memory to retell based on a lip piercing. Also, Gaia was writing in a diary at the start. Please REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)**


	18. Pythian Prophecy

**(Guys, this is the beginning of what my story has primarily been building up to. I think it's going to span over three chapters or so but this is the start, thought I should warn you. Enjoy)**

Just as Laura had wanted, Adama bent down and picked up the first fistful of Earth. Too bad it was radioactive. This planet was a devastated nuclear wasteland. It was nothing like they had expected. Not populated with people, or even life for that matter.

"Earth." said Laura.

That one word and the tone she used pretty much summed up everyone's thoughts.

Gaia stood off to the left of Adama and Roslin, on her own. The despair on all the people's faces was enough to make her sick. Earth fit right in with their dismal situation. Gaia wasn't sad, she wasn't upset. She was absolutely pissed. They had made it so far just to be rewarded with a mirror of home. It wasn't fair, and she couldn't get over it. She wanted to scream.

Laura sat and played with a spiky looking flower she had found. Adama wanted to go home.

---

The raptor doors opened. Laura, Adama, Lee and Gaia stepped out. There was a crowd waiting, waiting for their hopes to be confirmed.

Laura was speechless, she had no idea what to say, and Adama wasn't doing one better.

"Get me out of here." whispered Laura.

They began to move and that's when the crowd started to move. They were yelling, demanding to know. Adama lead her out but they started to swarm. Laura started to panic and Gaia could see that this wasn't what she needed right now. Lee saved the day and told them all that she would be making a statement shortly.

---

"So the thirteenth tribe settled here and created their own cylons."

"And then the machines rose up and killed their masters." added Lee.

"That's what we thought, until we tested the bones." replied Baltar."The results are conclusive."

Adama was getting impatient.

"What's your point?" he asked.

"They're not human." answered Tigh.

Laura's head turned to Saul as quick as anything.

"They're cylon."

"All of them?" questioned Adama.

"All of them." Saul confirmed.

"The thirteenth tribe, was cylon." Baltar's revelation shocked them all. Adama knew it was hitting Laura the hardest. How would she deal with this?

"The thirteenth tribe, a tribe of cylons. Came to this planet and called it Earth."

---

Gaia had been waiting patiently outside, she couldn't help but over hear the conversation going on inside. Cylons? What did that mean?

Next thing she knew, Roslin was walking past her, Lee and Bill hot on her tail. Gaia followed.

"Madame President, what do we do about the Quorum?" asked Lee.

Laura turned around and looked him squarely in the face but didn't answer.

"You need to talk to them, we need to tell them something." he continued.

She continued to look at him but didn't make a move to reply before turning around and leaving.

"It should come from their President." Lee said to her back as she walked away.

Gaia came up beside Bill.

"Sir, do you want me to stick to her as usual or leave it to her detail?" asked the young Ensign.

Bill looked at Gaia just like Laura had to Lee, except he answered. "Yes, if she goes where I think she is then just wait outside, she need time."

He then turned to Lee.

"Carry the ball." Adama went to leave.

"Sir" Gaia stopped him though. "When you say, where you think she is going, where is that?"

All Adama did was look at Gaia, then turned and proceeded to CIC.

"Right..." Gaia muttered to herself. She then left in pursuit of the President and left Lee to hi thoughts.

---

It has been at least an hour since Gaia had found the President's detail standing outside the Admiral's office. "Right..." she had muttered to herself again. The Admiral walked up and nodded to them all and entered. Gaia had heard not a sound from the confinements behind her since the President entered. She wondered if she was okay.

Bill walked into his office.

"We gotta do something, morale's going down the toilet."

He got closer and saw her burning something.

"What are you doing?" he asked incredulously. He realised what she was burning. "Pythian prophecy."

He sat down beside her.

"Cottle told me you didn't show up for your diloxin treatment. He said that that's the fourth one you've missed, if you count the ones you missed while aboard the Base Ship."

"That's right." she replied.

"Do you wanna tell me why?"

"I didn't feel like it."

"You're gunna reschedule." He said it as if a question that he expected nothing but a yes answer too.

"I don't think so." was her reply.

He looked away for a second, not really believing that he was having this conversation.

"Laura you need your treatments."

"No I don't." It was as if she was in a haze, he knew she wasn't completely with him.

"What are you doing?" he whispered. "You just gunna lie down and quit?"

Smoke was filling the room now.

"You're the one that made me believe in this." said Bill.

"You shouldn't have listened to me. When the cylons first attacked you should have held your ground and kept fighting. Because I was wrong, I was wrong about everything. And all those people who listened, and they trusted me, and they followed me, all those people, they're dead."

Bill had tears in his own eyes now. He made a move to touch her arm.

"Don't, stop, stop." She sounded firm, almost mean. Her voice broke and she began to cry. "Don't touch me. Just go." It was barely audible but he heard what she had said. She wanted him to leave, she didn't want him to even touch her. All he could do was get up and leave. Just like she wanted.

---

Adama came out of his office, Gaia swore she saw tears in his eyes. He took her aside for a moment.

"I want to send you back in the raptor to look for the Base Ship."

"Me alone Sir?" she asked.

"No, I want to send only the most crucial people. So both Athena and Lt Gaeta will be joining you. I would be sending Starbuck but she is still on Earth and Lee is needed politically at the moment, so you're it." he explained.

"Well glad to know I was first on your list." She smiled, it was a joke he knew that. In all honesty she would rather stay on Galactica. "What about the President?"

Adama sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"I don't think she will be surfacing for quite a while. I'll double her detail and keep a personal eye on her. More so than usual"

"Ok, when do we leave?" she asked.

"In an hour. But first, Doc Cottle told me to make sure you see him before you leave, he has something he wanted to talk to you about."

It took every un-asleep muscle in her body to stop her from rolling her eyes.

"Yes Sir."

_What did he want?_

**(Ok well, I've decided it's gunna span over four chapters. This being the first. The next chapter is really short and actually it's the first chapter I ever wrote for this story, I didn't know what number chapter it was going to be, just that it was nowhere near the beginning and would fit in somewhere down the track. PLEASSE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)**


	19. A Penny For Your Thoughts

**(Ok so this is the first chapter I ever wrote for 'What is Taken' no joke. I told you guys at the start that I had been thinking about this story for 2 years or so, so when I decided to write it, I didn't know where to start. So I just started to drabble and kept this one cause I planned to integrate it later. Enjoy!)**

Gaia entered sickbay and almost fell over from the smell of antiseptic. She hadn't realised how tired she was. It confused her because she did actually get a good night's sleep the night before. Even so, she pushed on, found Cottle's office and knocked.

"Come." came him muffled voice.

She opened the door and entered.

"Doc, what's up?"

"Sit, I want to talk to you."

She took a seat and waited for him to start. He looked at her sternly.

"The President has missed quite a few treatments, and now refuses to have anymore. If she misses another then the cancer will retake hold of her body and I won't be able to stop it."

"And what do you want me to do?" asked Gaia. "Talk to her or something? Because I doubt she will value the opinion of a 16 year old girl."

Cottle shook his head. "No, I want you to tell her who you really are."

Gaia closed her eyes for a moment. Hoping he hadn't just said what she thought he had. She opened them.

He continued. "She needs something to live for. Before it was getting to Earth, but Earth turned out to be a frakhole. She needs something else."

"She has Adama. When they came back from that Base Star something was different between them. I think they finally admitted it to each other. She has Adama to live for, the man she loves, that's enough."

"I was hoping so too. But it obviously isn't. She has already shrugged the Admiral off. She won't let him near her. She feels responsible for everything that has happened."

Gaia cut him off. "But she isn't."

He cut her off in return. "We know that, but she FEELS responsible for our situation, even if she had no control over it. That makes no difference to her because it's how she feels. Something needs to shock her back to reality, show her that now more than ever, people are depending on her. She is effectively ending her own life if she doesn't have her next diloxin treatment. Her realising she has family still, might just do it."

"So you want me to tell her I'm her daughter just so she will find the will to live again. I'm sorry but there is other ways we can get her stay in this life. Adama can help her. I can't, I'm just the flak jacket, okay? I mean, the entire time why I wanted to not tell her was because she was dying. When I first met her on New Caprica she wasn't, but I didn't know she was my mother at that exact moment. It did take me a couple of days to work out. I didn't see her after that until I stopped Starbuck from shooting her. Or her from shooting Starbuck, either way. Point is, her cancer was back by then. And her prognosis was pretty dismal, you know that." told Gaia.

Cottle sighed. "She needs something other than just one man, she knows there is more that she is living for, she just needs something to make her realise it."

"Look, I will explain it to you, in rough, un-thought out words for you okay. I refuse to tell a dying woman that she is leaving someone else behind."

Realisation dawned on the Doctor.

"Oh jeez." he murmured

"She just let someone love her and she just let herself love someone back. If she dies, then she knows that she is leaving them behind in this world. She feels like she is failing them, failing him. The entire time my decision not to tell her has been based solely on her well being. I plan to keep it that way. I won't tell her as long as she might die, because I don't want her to think she is failing me."

Her voice broke at the last sentence. She hung her head, to hide that she was trying to stop the tears. With her head still hung she spoke.

"If that's all Doc, I've got a plane to catch."

"One more thing." She looked up, her eyes still holding the odd unshed tear. "If your kidnapper left you on the stone steps in Caprica Square, why didn't you just run back home, or when Nathaniel found you, tell them where you lived and who you were?"

"Because at the time, we lived on Geminon. Running back home wasn't really an option. As for the rest, I was too young to remember my address and I kinda just shut down. It scared the crap outta me I had nightmares for years about it. And as much as I wanted my mother. I refused to speak to anyone about her. And I wanted to be back with her so much. Nathaniel named me Gaia because I seemed so peaceful, like Earth. I don't know how he thought I was peaceful, he always told me that I was a disturbed kid, as I said, nightmares, flinched at the sound of anything, always on high alert. I guess that experience is what made me who I am today. Because I'm still always on high alert."

Cottle nodded. He understood. But he still wanted her to tell Laura the truth.

Gaia opened the door to leave. As she did Cottle said "She misses her daughter. She would want to know you're still breathing, even if she might feel like a failure. I bet she thinks about you every day."

Gaia just kept walking.

**(Well I said it was short. Cottle never quits does he? :D PLEASEEEEEEEEEEE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!)**


	20. Drunken Suicide

**(OMGs chapter 20, this is a land mark, like being married for 25 years :D**

**Hehehehehehe I'm hoping to get you to gasp at Cottle in this one. Enjoy! I updated earlier cause the last chapter was a bit short.)**

Gaia stepped up onto the wing of the raptor and entered it. Gaeta was sitting at the back computer playing with switches and chords, while Athena was in the cockpit playing with just switches.

"Hey Felix."

"Gaia." he nodded a hello.

"Oi Lieutenant." Gaia was referring to Athena. Athena turned around and looked at her. "Where do you want me to dump these?" Gaia held up two bags full of supplies. Sharon pointed to a corner. "Stack 'em there. And strap 'em in so they don't roll all over the place." Gaia did so. Soon enough they were ready to leave.

"Raptor 489 requesting clearance." Athena's voice crackled over the speakers in CIC. Adama picked up the receiver. "Raptor 489 you are cleared to launch, good luck."

The raptor left Galactica's hangar bay and Gaia took one last look at Earth before they jumped out of sight.

---

They jumped back to the fleet's previous coordinates, but there was nothing there.

"Looks like they jumped to the wrong coordinates because they aren't here." stated Athena.

"Right..." muttered Gaia.

"Gaeta start your calculations. How long's it gunna take again?" asked Athena.

"Well the Admiral made explicit instructions that I should not network any computers. He said that we had time to wait. For a colonial ship we'd be talking around twelve hours, but this is a cylon ship we are looking for, the parameters are very different. So I'd say a day, two at the most." answered Gaeta.

"That's great Felix." Sarcasm oozed from her voice.

Gaia stat silently, watching them work. She loved to just sit back and watch her surroundings and the actions happening around her, however routine it was.

---

Day One - Night

Gaia sat against the back bulkhead of the raptor. Her head slightly tipped backwards so that it was resting against the wall. Athena sat in the pilot's seat only half asleep. Felix was sprawled out on the floor snoring his little heart out. Gaia thought it was adorable, the amount of noise he could make was incredible. She just lent there listening to the gentle hum of the engine as well the racket erupting from the man next to her and the gentle breathing of the woman at the front.

Gaeta rolled over and his face connected with Gaia's knee. He groaned and his hand flew to his nose. Gaia started to laugh. He rolled back onto his back and glared up at Gaia.

"Do you ever sleep??" he remarked.

She smiled and shook her head.

"Not usually, if I do, it's not for a long period of time. Most of the time I run on nothing, it's how I function." She shrugged her shoulders.

Day Two - Afternoon

"Alright, we have about 5 hours to go." announced Gaeta.

"Ok the next time Adama asks me to sit in a raptor for two days, remind me to refuse." moaned Athena.

Gaia smiled, she sat in her same spot against the bulkhead and wrote another entry to Daniel.

_Hey Daniel,_

_It's me again. Obviously..._

_Well we found Earth. Talk about complete a frakhole. No check that, it's the frakhole of frakholes. Earth is effectively a nuclear wasteland, a two thousand year old nuclear wasteland. Yeah, it's been like that for a while. I doubt it's inhabitable, but they found remains buried on the surface. Two hundred and fifty in total, but they aren't human. They are apparently cylon. Looks like that prophecy or whatever was a pile of bollocks. Oh well, we move on. I'm use to that at least._

_The hole in my lip is still going good by the way. The other day it swelled up a bit, dunno why, Doc Cottle said it wasn't infected, but I looked like someone had slugged me. Speaking of the good old Doctor. I might murder him soon, his intentions are good but, he still wants me to tell her. But I won't. I will never tell her._

_Anyway I haven't got much to say so I'll stop now, have to get back to my important duties. You know, sitting on my ass in a raptor. That's important right?_

_Gaia._

Athena turned around to moan at Gaeta a little more when she noticed Gaia writing in an old tatty looking book.

"Ensign." Gaia had just finished writing and popped her head up to acknowledge the Lieutenant. Athena continued. "What you writing." She gestured towards to book. Gaia looked down at the item in her hands and then looked back up at Sharon.

"It's uhh.." Gaia was lost for words, she didn't want to say diary because she hated the things, but in a way that's what it was.

"...a Diary?" Sharon gave an evil smile.

"Kind of. But no not really." Athena gave the girl a quizzical look. "It's a diary yes I s'pose but instead of diary entries, I write... letters to a friend I had that died on New Caprica. I just don't expect any replies." Gaia gave a sad smile and Athena immediately regretted asking, but nodded all the same and turned back around.

Five Hours Later

"We have a position. Looks like they jumped back to the fleet's last known position before we jumped here." stated Gaeta.

"Right lets go then."

They jumped.

---

"Ok, our base ship has either multiplied or we are in some serious crap." said a wide-eyed Ensign who was now sitting in the co-pilot's seat.

"They've detected us, they've launched raiders." relayed Gaeta.

"Frak." Athena sharply pulled the raptor up and took a sudden left then right then left. The raiders were on their tail.

The raiders fired on the raptor. Hitting the bow of the ship.

"FRAK!" screamed Gaeta.

Gaia spotted the Rebel Base Star and got on the wireless.

"This is Raptor 489 come in." Nothing. "If anyone on that Basestar, we came back looking for you, to lead you back to Earth." Still nothing. Another hit rocked the ship. "Listen up, we need to dock immediately, can you open your bay doors?" Still no reply.

"Maybe they can't hear us." said Gaeta.

"Or maybe they can't respond, no one could even be aboard." stated Gaia, turning to look at Felix as she did.

"Or maybe a million things, looks like they are listening 'cause their bay doors just opened."

"I might be a trap." exclaimed Gaeta.

"But if we don't dock then we will be meeting the vacuum of space real soon." yelled Gaia.

Another hit rocked the raptor. What would they decide?

---

Battlestar Galactica

Laura lay there listening to Bill's promises of finding a new home. The prickly flower she had found on Earth clutched tightly in her hand. She was torn, she was completely and utterly devastated. Everything she believed in had been shattered. The Pythian prophecy had all been a lie. She had been living a lie, living for nothing.

A knock sounded at the hatch and disturbed her thoughts. Laura didn't move. She knew it couldn't have been Bill, despite their earlier encounter, he would never knock at his own office. The hatch opened and she heard someone enter.

"Get your ass off of that floor young lady."

---

Cottle was still sitting in his office reeling from Ensign Matthew's stubbornness. She was just like her mother, that was for sure. "Even bloody looks like her." muttered Jack.

He had made up his mind. He marched out of his office and exited sickbay. He arrived at Adama's office and knocked once. He didn't expect a reply and he didn't get one. He opened the hatch and stepped inside.

He moved further into the room. Turning to his left he saw the figure of the President lying on a mat on the floor of the Admiral's office.

"Get your ass off of that floor young lady."

Laura flinched at his words. It was Cottle who had come to see her.

He took a few steps closer and spoke.

"What the frak do you think you are doing? That's a cold metal floor you're lying on."

She didn't reply. He wondered if she might be asleep or maybe unconscious.

He took a few more steps closer and came around to face her. Her eyes were open and staring blankly at the opposing wall. He sighed.

"I'm not here to get you to have your treatments. That's next on my list. I'm here because I need to tell you something.

At that she looked up at him, without moving any other part of her.

"'Bout bloody time. You can sit around and wallow in whatever emotion you are feeling at the moment later. Right now I want to talk to you about something."

---

15 Minutes Earlier

Bill stormed out of the morgue and ordered the marine standing guard to have over his sidearm. He then proceeded through the halls of Galactica, passing the onslaughts of people graphitising his ship, pilots beating the crap out of each other and the cries of the crumbled people around him. Until he reach the XO's quarters.

Saul Tigh was sitting at his desk when three loud bangs sounded at his hatch. He opened it to find his best friend Bill standing with a gun in hand. Bill stepped inside and glared at Saul as he went by.

Bill went to Saul's locker and slammed it open, took out his gun and a full bottle of Ambrosia.

"I think we should have that little heart to heart that you've been pining for." growled Bill, obviously already quite drunk.

He set the bottle down on Saul's desk and loaded the gun and also dropped it on the desk.

"Sit down cylon." ordered Bill

"It looks like you've got a head start on me Bill." noted Saul.

Bill carelessly poured a glass full of Ambrosia, slopping it everywhere as he did.

"Look like you still don't know when to shut your frakking mouth and follow orders." snarled Bill.

Saul went to sit down at his desk and Bill shoved took a lengthy gulp from the bottle, he shoved the glass towards Saul, it almost sliding off the table.

Saul told Bill how he was sorry he didn't tell him when he first found out. Bill waved his apology and started to chop Saul down about him being a cylon.

He accused Saul of being programmed to be his friend and once again he brought up Ellen and her sleeping around. Saul told him to shut up but he wouldn't, until Saul could take it no longer. He sprang to his feet and pointed the gun at Bill's head. All Bill did was egg him on and picked up his own gun and pointed it at the same target.

"Do it or I will."

Realisation washed over Saul's face and he started to calm down. He realised Bill wanted to be shot, but couldn't do it himself. He wanted someone to do it for him, to kill him. Saul refused, this was something that he just couldn't help his friend out with.

"How the frak is killing yourself gunna help all the other gods damned people out there thinking of doing the same thing." scolded Saul. "What are they going to do without the old man here to lead them?" Saul picked up the other gun and unloaded it, just like he had with the first.

"Lead them where Saul?" asked Bill

**(Can you guess what Cottle is about to do. I can't wait to post the next few chapters cause it gets really interesting.**

**Gahh ok I've changed my mind again. This is going to span over 5 chapters, maybe 6. It's just turning out to be too gods damn long and I don't wanna put way too much in each chapter. Cause I've got two and a half storylines going now. PLEASE REVIEW!!!)**


	21. Be A Saviour To My Guilt

**(Ok so this is chapter 21 and Vania is gunna kill me cause I told her this is when she finds out who it is. But I've changed my mind and it's now either in the next chapter or the one after that. Sorry Vania :D Don't hurt me please. Anyway, hope you all enjoy, as usual.**

**P.S. A little shout out to Gaia, no not the character in the story, Gaia my friend who wanted to read this even though she has never seen BSG. And Gaia in the story is named after Gaia my friend, if anyone was wondering. Cause I just love her name, but you say hers differently to my Gaia :D)**

Laura was still staring at Cottle.

"Now get up off that floor." he barked.

She sat up and then stood and walked over to the lounge behind Cottle and sat down. Hands folded neatly between her knees with the flower still in between.

He sat down next to her, somewhat away but not at the other end of the couch. She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to start. He took a deep breath and began.

"Have you ever been married Laura?"

She was taken aback, he had said he wasn't here to talk about her treatments and figured it might be something else to do with her health, but she did not expect that.

"No, no I haven't." she answered.

Nodding he readjusted his approach.

"Ever had any children?"

Realising now that her shock from the last question paled in comparison to this one. With a scrutinising look she replied.

"No."

"Never?" he probed.

"No, never."

Of course he knew she was lying, but she didn't know that.

"Madam President don't take this the wrong way but, I know your body better than you do, inside and out. You still wanna tell me you've never given birth?"

Laura swallowed.

"Are you trying to tell me you know something I don't?" she glared.

"No, I'm trying to tell you that I know you had a daughter."

She didn't possibly think that Cottle could shock her anymore. She was wrong.

---

Gaia woke up to one of the biggest frakking headaches she had ever had in her life. And she'd had had a few.

"'Bout time you woke up." Came a voice to her left.

She recognised their voice immediately. It was Gaeta. She slowly opened her eyes and quickly shut them, the lights hurt like nothing else. She brought her hands up to her face and pressed her fingers into her eyes, screwing up her nose as she did. She carefully rolled over and pushed herself up into a sitting position on the floor. Shielding her eyes from the light she opened them and gazed around the room. Everything was blurry and her vision was taking it's sweet time to return.

"What happened?" she asked.

"We crash landed into the landing bay. They took me and you into here and I don't know where Sharon is. You and her were both unconscious."

"How long was I..." She cleared her throat. "...out for?"

"About 3 days." replied Felix.

Gaia's eyes widened. "Three days? And you haven't seen Athena since?"

"Nup. We aren't prisoners, but I'm not getting very far and you weren't awake so I stayed here. They dumped our stuff from the wreck over there." He nodded his head to two bags over in the corner. Gaia gingerly moved to get up, leaning heavily against the wall as she did. She pushed herself away from the wall and went to take a step before collapsing to the ground in a heap.

"Gods damn it." she exclaimed.

Gaeta just looked at her. She rose and tried again, this time she waited longer for composure and unsteadily made her way over to the corner. She crouched down and searched through the first bag. Not finding the item she was looking for. She then searched the second bag, she still couldn't find what she was looking for.

"Frak!" she cursed. She wanted to scream.

"What are you looking for?"

"A book, it's got a plain brown cover. I was writing in it on the Raptor." she replied.

"Over there, one of the blonde models dumped it on the table over there."

She turned around and saw it, sighing with relief she picked it up and placed it in one of the bags. She stood up and cracked her back and ribs, almost falling over in process. Felix cringed at the solid crunches her body made. She spun around to face him.

"I'm going to the control room to see what they've done with the Lieutenant."

He nodded and she walked out of the room. She saw a centurion standing guard at their room. She stopped and surveyed it.

"You're kidding." she whispered.

She walked up to it and it looked down at her. It was the very same one that had led her to President Roslin when she was first on this Base Star. She knew because it had two dents in it's right shoulder, that she noted last time she saw it. More sure of herself this time she spoke.

"Can you show me where the control room is? Please?"

The centurion looked at her for another moment and turned and started walking. Gaia followed.

---

The centurion stopped outside of an entrance to a large room. She thanked the machine and entered.

Four pairs of eyes turned to her as she walked in. Two of them where Leoben models and the other two a six and an eight.

When Gaia saw the Leobens her heart stopped.

_A man with blue eyes. "Who are you?" "MUMMY!"_

Gaia blinked. "You, your..." She stopped. She couldn't deal with this now. She swallowed and turned to the Six.

"Where's Sharon?" demanded Gaia.

The two Leobens and the six looked at the eight.

"No not her, my Sharon, Lt Agathon, the one that came with me."

The six spoke first. "When you came aboard she was badly injured. We took her too our sickbay and our Doctor is treating her as best she can."

Gaia nodded. "How did you end up here?"

This time the eight answered. "We were about to jump when Cavil and his ships found us, they attacked as we were jumping and it landed us at different coordinates. It took him a while to find us but when he did we jumped again, luckily the FTL hadn't been damaged. Every time he shows up we've jumped to a new set of coordinates, but he always finds us."

"That's why we haven't jumped to Earth, because he will follow and ultimately find the planet." added a Leoben. Gaia glared at him as he spoke.

"Okay, how do we get rid of him?" asked Gaia.

"We can't until we find out how he is finding us so easily. Hybrids aren't capable of finding other ships through jumps, we don't know why, it was one of the flaws in their creation." replied the Eight.

"So it means he is tracking someone on board." said the Six.

"We scanned the ship and there are no devices. We are at a dead end." added the other Leoben.

Gaia nodded again. Thinking as she did. "That means it has to be something organic, and it has to be someone he has had contact with. But how do you track something organic through subspace?"

The first Leoben's eyes lit up.

"D'anna." They all turned to look at him. "She she killed Cavil just before getting off the hub. He could have done something to her to be able to follow her."

"Where is she?" questioned Gaia.

"With your Sharon." answered the Six.

---

"I've already told you, I have not had any children, so you can't know anything." spat Laura.

Cottle stared at her, she wouldn't look at him. He knew this wasn't going to be easy. He decided that the only way to get her to admit to having Gaia was to trick her into it.

"You had a daughter, she had brown hair and brown eyes she..."

Laura interrupted Cottle.

"How could you know what she looked like?" Laura stopped. Realising that she had just playing right into the Doctor's hands.

"Now we're getting somewhere. So you did have a daughter?" he asked.

Laura nodded. Sadness fell over her as she remembered. "Yes, but not for long."

"What happened?" He knew full well but he wanted to hear it from her.

Laura took a shaky breath. "Her father wasn't in the picture. She didn't know who he was. When she was four she noticed that she was missing something that all the other kids had, and she started to ask about him. I tried explaining it to her but she got upset and ran to her room. I was about to get up and go to her but before I could I heard her scream, I pushed open her door and there was a man trying to kidnap her, he dragged her out of the window. I was in a panic, I stuck my head of the window but they were gone. I remember screaming her name but she was gone. I never saw her again after that, they never found her. I suppose I never really gave up hope in finding her, but after the attacks and New Caprica, I didn't expect to see her again. She'd be 16 now and I doubt she would have survived this. And if she did, I wouldn't find her, even in out of the 39'561 people in this fleet."

"39'560." corrected Cottle.

Laura just looked at him questioningly. He continued.

"Dee shot herself in the head, about an hour ago."

Laura was shocked.

"You mean Lt Dualla?"

"Yes."

Laura lowered her head in a silent prayer for Dee's soul. She knew Bill would be devastated. Once she was done she raised her head again.

"Is that all you wanted to talk to me about? That you know I've had a daughter and what happened to her?" she asked.

"No. I wanted to tell you that she's alive and is closer than you think."

Laura could hear her own heartbeat. Feel it in her head and he hands.

"What??" she whispered.

Cottle didn't answer, letting his revelation sink in.

"How do you know?"

"Because she is on this ship and I've spoken to her a few times. She knows that you're her mother, but refuses to tell you."

"Who is it?" She had to know.

Cottle paused for a long time before answering. Gaia hadn't told him in confidence, he had confronted her about it first and she had merely stated that she wasn't going to tell the President. So he knew that technically he wasn't breaking any oaths if he told Laura. He answered.

"Ensign Matthews."

Laura inwardly gasped. "My body guard?" Cottle didn't respond, he let her work it out for herself. "Does Bill know, why does she refuse to tell me?"

"No he doesn't, so if you were thinking of blasting him for making her you're body guard, don't bother. He doesn't have a clue. As for why she refused to tell you well, it was a pretty selfless thing of her to do."

"Go on.." urged Laura

"She didn't want you to feel guilty about your cancer." Seeing the look on her face he continued. "She didn't want you to feel like you were letting someone else down, or want you to feel like you were leaving someone else behind. I told her that you knowing that she was alive would probably give you another reason to live and to fight. But she still refused to tell you. I couldn't let her do it anymore. So I'm telling you. I probably shouldn't be but I am."

For about the fifth or sixth time this evening Laura was absolutely stunned. For a 16 year old she was well before her time. Definitely had more maturity than any teenager Laura had encountered.

"Where is she now?"

"The Admiral sent her on the mission to find the Base Star." answered the Doctor.

"What?!?"

---

Cylon Base Ship 3 Days in the future

Gaia walked out of the control room to find the centurion. It was standing guard at the same room she awoke in. It looked down at her and this time without hesitation she spoke.

"Could you take me too your sickbay, where D'anna and my Eight is? Please?"

Again it turned and started walking. All Gaia could do was follow. They had been walking for a few minutes before it stopped outside another room. Gaia thanked the tall machine again and walked in. She saw D'anna standing next to Sharon. Sharon was unconscious and there was a puddle of blood beneath her. D'anna noticed the figure in her peripheral vision and turned to face her.

"You've come to lead us to Earth." It wasn't a question.

"Yes." Was her simple answer.

"Why did you come looking for us?"

"You really want me to answer that? Lee Adama didn't make the alliance just so you wouldn't blow us to hell. He does want this to end, just like the rest of us."

"Fair enough."

"How is she?" Gaia motioned her heard towards Sharon.

D'anna sighed. "Not good. She'll die if we don't get her back to your fleet."

"How long?"

"Two days, three at the most."

They had to find a way of stopping the Cavil from pursuing them without killing D'anna. But how?

**(Oh and I've just added another juicy clue to the story, tehehehehe.**

**Yep looks like it might be a while before you find out that thing Vania wants to know. This segment is taking a while and I've gotta stretch some upcoming things with Laura out a bit. PLEASE REVIEW, cause you love me and if not, cause ya love BSG ;D**

**Also, to be honest I wanted Adama to be the one that brought her back from the edge, but it made sense that news of her daughter from the only person willing to tell her, would do it. BUT!!! Adama still has ALOT of work to do on her.)**


	22. Bye Bye Into The Night

**(Oh yea yep Vania is gunna kill me. Looks like that thing ya'll wanna know ain't gunna be revealed for a while, even though I planned it to be in the last chapter. Reason being that just too much is happening and those things need to calm and get into rhythm before I can stir the pot a little. So I apologize, but I hope once you do find out that it will be worth the wait. :D Enjoy!)**

It had been five days since Cottle had told Laura about Gaia and Gaia was all she could think about. Laura hadn't left Galactica since they found Earth, she hadn't addressed the quorum or the press, so far Lee had to handle everything.

"We believe the fifth cylon to be dead." Lee yelled above the noise.

"But you're not sure?"

"Uh no but we believe she died some time ag..." Realising that he had just said she and not they Lee stopped before finishing his sentence.

The press went mad, asking how they knew it to be a woman.

"That was the last question, thank you all for coming."

Adama, Lee and Zarek all exited into the President's office.

"My gods I can't believe I just said that."

"Doesn't matter now. Knowing the last cylon's gender isn't going to make much difference." assured Adama.

---

One day ago. Rebel Base Star

It had been a day since the rebel cylons and Gaia had worked out how Cavil was tracking them. D'anna was the only one that knew the face of the final cylon, so they needed her to give up who it was otherwise they couldn't kill her. They couldn't give her to Cavil or leave her behind because Cavil wanted the five just as much as the rebels did. They're only option was to kill her. Whatever gave their position away was organic and somehow written into D'anna or made a part of her. They had scanned her and the ship multiple times and for multiple different things, still they found nothing. They all just hoped that they could get it out of her before they had to do the inevitable.

---

Present Time. Galactica

She picked up the bottle full of pills and poured a few into her hand. She then placed them in a pile on the desk in front of her along with all the other piles of different pills. She leaned on the desk heavily, contemplating her decision to go through with it. It being suicide. She couldn't stop thinking about Ensign Matthews and who she really was. She slid the pills off the desk and into the bin, she then picked up one bottle and dropped in the bin. Next she slid all the bottles into the bin and stood up straight. She couldn't do it, not now, not while her daughter was still out there. Gaia was only a kid and she seemed to be managing through the truth about Earth. She seemed to be doing better than anyone, but that's only how it seemed. Something told Laura that maybe Gaia hadn't had a chance to stop and let things catch up with her, let things settle.

Laura also couldn't do it because of Bill, they had finally admitted how they felt to one another and she couldn't destroy that.

---

One Day Ago. Rebel Base Star

The alarms sounded all through the Ship. Gaia was already on her way to the control room when they went off. She rounded the corner and entered. She saw Tory standing at one of the consoles, Gaia slowed her pace and eyed her carefully as she spoke.

"What's going on?"

"Cavil's found us again, we need to put an end to this now." said the Six.

"I agree, but what do you suppose we do, we can't just kill her, she is still the only one who knows..."

"Shot fired in sickbay." yelled a Leoben.

"What?" the Six yelled back.

"Single shot fired in sickbay, I think Cavil's boarded." replied the Leoben.

Gaia turned around and exited the control room. She couldn't remember the way to sickbay so she turned to the centurion at the door, the same one that had helped her before.

"I need to get to sickbay immediately, can you take me there? Please?"

Without and delay the centurion turned and took off at a quick pace, making sure not to leave Gaia behind. In no time she was outside sickbay, she gave the centurion quick thankyou and walked in, un-holstering her gun as she did. She saw a puddle of blood and as she took a few more steps she saw that the blood was emulating from the head of D'anna's lifeless body. The gun in D'anna's hand was still smoking. She had shot herself. Gaia walked over to the far wall and pressed the com button.

"Control room this is sickbay, D'anna has shot herself. She's dead."

Gaia's voice crackled over the speakers in the control room and the cylons bowed their heads in annoyance and dismay.

The rebel ship jumped away from Cavil's forces. They planned to jump to Earth tomorrow, to make sure that Cavil was no longer following them. After extensive studies of D'anna's body, it was found that when she was alive, her brain would emit a form of radiation that was only detectable by studying her direct brain tissue. Now that she was dead, the radiation had stopped and Cavil had nothing to follow.

The Next Day

Felix was with Sharon in sickbay, while Gaia was in the control room watching the cylons plan for their jump to Earth. When everything was set a Six gave the order and they jumped.

---

Present Time. Galactica

Bill and Saul were standing in CIC both going about their usually duties when Lee walked in.

"Dradis contact." yelled Mr Hoshi, who had temporarily taken Mr Gaeta's place.

"What is it?" growled Adama.

"It's the Rebel Base Star Sir, they're back."

"Ensign Matthews must have found them." said Lee.

"They've taken heavy damage." stated Hoshi.

"I didn't think that they could have sustained anymore that the last time we saw them." said President Adama.

Saul nodded in agreement. "You thought wrong."

"Sir the cylon base star is requesting to speak with you."

Adama nodded. "Thank you Mr. Hoshi."

"Déjà vu." murmured Saul.

---

"Multiple ships." said a Leoben, Gaia watched him carefully.

"It's the fleet." announced the Eight. "We're back."

"Contact Galactica." ordered the Six.

---

Adama picked up the hand set and motioned for Saul to do the same.

"This is Adama."

"Admiral, thank you for coming and finding us, meanwhile I have an Ensign that would like to speak to you." came the voice of a Six.

The Six nodded at Gaia who began.

"Sir, it's good to be back."

"We're glad you found them, well done." replied Adama

"Thank you Sir. Sir Athena is badly injured and needs to see Cottle right away."

"Alright, I'll send two raptors over to collect you. Adama out."

---

Laura stepped out of the hatch to find Lee moving at a very fast speed past her.

"Mr Adama?"

Lee came to a screeching halt and turned to face her.

"Madam President. How are you?"

"Fine. Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"The hangar bay, the base star is back with our people, they are on their way to Galactica now."

"Really?"

He nodded.

"Lead the way Mr Adama."

He turned and started walking again, Laura in tow.

They reached the entrance to the hangar bay to be almost knocked over by a shouting doctor and Athena on a stretcher. They stepped through the hatch just as the second raptor's door was opening.

Laura stood still, waiting. The door opened and Gaia stepped out, accompanied but a hobbling Mr Gaeta. Laura swallowed the urge to run up to her and hug her. Instead, she followed Lee who casually walked up to her.

"Ensign." He greeted her.

"Lee." she returned.

He smiled brightly at her.

"What took you guys so long?"

"Well, we had to shake Cavil off our asses before jumping here so that we didn't lead him to Earth and the fleet. D'anna's dead, he was tracking her somehow, long story. Though, when we first found the Base Star they were fighting with Cavil and we go in the cross fire and crash landed in their docking bays. I woke up to find Felix highly agitated and Athena needed medical attention soon."

"Wow, seems like you've had quite a week." noted Lee.

"Yeah, just that..." She suddenly stopped and put her hand to her head.

"Are you ok?" asked Laura.

Gaia rubbed her forehead for a few moments before answering.

"Yeah, just got a shocking headache, I keep getting these searing pains and they..." She stopped again, this time ramming her eyes tightly shut as she put her hand to her head again. Laura looked alarmed while Lee was thoroughly concerned. She lifted her head, her hand remaining on her temple and her eyes still firmly shut. Lee and Laura watched her open her eyes, only to see them roll back in her head and her body begin to crumple to the floor. Lee jumped out to catch her, only just grabbing one of her arms as she hit the deck. Laura ran over to her other side and crouched down next to her. Lee's head shot up.

"WE NEED A MEDIC!!!"

**(I'm an evil bitch aren't I? Leaving it there like that. I feel like not posting the next chapter for a month just for a kick. :D No I won't do that. 3 Days guys, roughly. Please Review.)**


	23. All Things Leave Marks

**(Dumdee dumdee Dum... )**

"WE NEED A MEDIC!!!" screamed Lee.

Laura was crouched down next to Gaia. She was out of her mind with worry. Felix was standing over them rambling anxiously.

"She was fine before, she was knocked out for three days but once she woke up she was fine, she was okay I swear."

Laura glared up at him. "Three days?"

"Yeah, we um.. after we crashed into the Base Ship. But when she woke up she said she was fine, she complained of having a headache a couple of times but she insisted she was okay." stuttered Gaeta.

Laura glared at him once more before looking back at Gaia. She had had trickles of blood coming out her right ear and nostril. That only worried Laura more.

"WHERE THE FRAK IS DOC COTTLE?" yelled Lee. Laura looked up at him from across Gaia.

"He's with Athena." replied a Knuckle dragger.

"THEN GET A MEDIC HERE NOW!!!" he ordered.

Just as the words left his mouth a lone medic came through the hatch and sprinted over to them. She got to work.

"How are we gunna get her to sickbay? The medic didn't bring a stretcher." Laura was well past the stage of panic.

Lee stood and looked around the hangar bay, one had on his hip and the other rubbing down his cheeks and around his jaw. He all of a sudden turned back to where Gaia was laying, bent down and put and his arms under her knees and around her neck. He picked her up and set off to sickbay as quick as he could. Laura was doing well to keep up with him.

They rounded the corner and entered the sterile environment.

"Doc Cottle, where is Doc Cottle." Laura screamed throughout sickbay.

Ishay hurriedly walked up to them, pointing to the closest bed.

"Put her over there." Lee took Gaia over to the medical bay and laid her down gently.

Laura watched Lee go and then turned back to Ishay. "Where's Doc Cottle?"

"He is with Lt Agathon. Her injuries needed immediate attention." answered Ishay.

Lee walked up behind Laura and started yelling at Ishay. "Ensign Matthews just collapsed right in front of our eyes, seconds before she had searing pains going through her head. Now she is bleeding from the nose and ears. Something tells me that qualifies as an immediate injury."

"He is in surgery with Lt Agathon, I can't just pull him from saving her life." replied Ishay.

"IF YOU DON'T SHE WILL DIE!!" screamed Lee. Laura put a hand on his arm, finding her own reserve crumbling around her.

"There must be something you can do in the mean time." whispered Laura.

Ishay sighed and looked around sickbay for a moment. She called one of the nurses over to her.

"I need a brain CT and MRI on Ensign Matthews right now." She pointed to where Gaia lay. The nurse nodded and went off to prepare for the tests while Ishay went to examine Gaia.

She got out her penlight, lifted one of Gaia's eyelids and shined it in and out. She then repeated the same action with the opposite eye. She gently placed her hands at the base of Gaia's neck and applied a small amount of pressure, slowly working her way up to the base of her skull.

"Do either of you know what happened?" asked Ishay. Both adults shook their heads.

"Oh, wait. She said she said she woke up on the Base Star, so I'm guessing she was knocked unconscious." spluttered Laura.

"For three days." A voice came from outside the bay, they all turned to face the man. Gaeta hobbled a little closer and continued.

"As we were going down, straight into the docking bay of the Base Star, parts of the raptor were coming loose and flying around the cabin. A few sharp fragments hit Athena in the stomach and a large tube of piping, about an inch thick, hit Gaia in the back of the head. She was unconscious for three days, none of us could wake her, when she finally woke up she had trouble walking at first and complained of bad headaches."

Ishay was listening to Gaeta intently while still feeling around the back of Gaia's head. She cursed silently and Laura looked at her in alarm.

"What, what is it?"

"I can feel a crack in her Occipital bone of her skull." answered Ishay.

"What does that mean?" growled Lee.

Ishay glared at him. "It means that she has a skull fracture at the base of her skull, which would account for the nasal haemorrhaging." Ishay stood up straight. "But what doesn't make sense is the amount of blood loss, the positioning of the fracture would mean more blood would leak from the ear than the nose, but most of it is coming out of her nasal passage ways."

"Meaning...?" asked Lee.

"Meaning that she is not just suffering a fracture. If I'm not wrong, I would say she has suffered a ruptured aneurysm. Which makes no sense at because she never had an aneurysm to begin with."

"What causes and aneurysm?" asked Laura.

"Umm... severe brain trauma, hard blow to the head, the list can go on. Sometimes people just develop them from stress. But people of Gaia's age don't just develop them, they are usually caused by blunt trauma and looking at the amount of blood loss and where she is bleeding from, if she did develop an aneurysm then the blow would have had to been in the region of her temple or temporal plate."

"What the hell is going on?" bellowed Cottle.

"Gai... Ensign Matthews collapsed... ermm..." Laura stopped, waving a hand at Ishay indicating she didn't know her name.

"Ishay" helped Ishay.

"Yes, Ishay here believes she has a skull fracture but also has a ruptured aneurysm."

"Ishay, give me the facts." grumbled Cottle.

"Bruising and swelling to under right side of the Occipital bone. Excess bleeding from nose indicating severe head trauma, given the blood loss and where she is bleeding from I'd say she had an aneurysm and it burst." Cottle grunted in recognition. "What I can't work out is how she developed one in the first place."

"Start her on fluids and two units of blood. Seems like she's stopped haemorrhaging so I'm guessing it wasn't attached to her Aorta, bloody lucky girl. Get her cleaned up. Madame President, would you come with me please?" Cottle marched off to his office, waited for Laura to follow and enter before he slammed the door shut.

"Jack explain all of that to me." pleaded Laura.

Cottle sighed, Gaia's condition wasn't good.

"I'm guessing that when you had that accident aboard Colonial One and the ship was wrecked, when Ensign Matthews hit her head, she developed a brain aneurysm. When brain aneurysms are undetected they can be very dangerous, often fatal. Until now the aneurysm was unseen because when Ishay stitched her up she insisted I not do any CT's or MRI's and could not force her to do so. The blow to the back of her head must have made it burst and now she has slipped into a coma. There is no way to tell that if we had caught it earlier that we would have been able to remove it, but she is frakkin' lucky that it wasn't attached to her artery, which is very rare. Otherwise she would have been dead before Lee got her here. There is nothing I can do at the moment, the fracture will heal but there is no way to tell what damage was caused until she wakes up, if she wakes up." Cottle paused and took a breath. "I'm so sorry Laura." Cottle stood and rounded his desk, he gave her shoulder a rough pat and promptly left his office, leaving her sitting there, wondering if Gaia was going to live... or not.

**(Woah, big words there aye guys.**

**Aneurysm - ****a localized, blood-filled dilation (balloon-like bulge) of a blood vessel caused by disease or weakening of the vessel wall.**

**Haemorrhaging/Hemorrhaging – Big fancy word for bleeding.**

**Severe Head Trauma – Bad damage to your brain or skull or head, yada yada yada.**

**Temporal Plate – The plate in you skull that is just above your ear.**

**Occipital Bone – Plate/Bone at the very base of your skull.**

**Don't know when I'll update, school is full on at the moment. Please review :D :D :D)**


	24. My Pain Is Their Pleasure

**(Ok just so you all know before you kill me at the end of this, it was either this or she loses her memory, now that could have been interesting but the emotional side of this situation just struck me so I had to go for it. Enjoy)**

It had been at least five days since Gaia had collapsed in the hangar bay, and every moment since then Laura had been a wreck, she had no patience for anyone, she wasn't sleeping well or at all, she was constantly distracted and on edge and she tried to avoid Bill as much as possible.

The one problem with that was, she was still staying in his quarters. She tried to spend all her available time in other parts of the ship, mostly sickbay, as much as she hated the place and at night she made sure to appear asleep before he arrived back.

It was the end of the day almost and she was leaving sickbay to go to Bill's quarters after having Cottle almost throw her out. She had had a tough day, her medication wasn't doing its usual magic and she had this really odd feeling in the pit of her stomach, but she didn't know why or what it pertained to.

She rounded the corner and saw the marines standing outside the hatch, this just made her feel even stranger, how had they beaten her here?

She continued up to the hatch, nodded to the detail and entered. The room was dark except for a ray of light coming from the other room. Laura toed off her shoes and laid her jack on the back of the closest chair. She walked towards to light and saw Bill sitting at his desk in his robe, reading a book. She internally slapped herself. She wondered how long it would be before they had this conversation and she really didn't know why she hadn't told him, maybe because of how he might react.

Bill didn't look up from his book and continued to ignore her. She stood in the arch way staring at him, waiting for him to say something, but he didn't. He just kept reading.

She sucked in a breath to say something but changed her mind. She didn't want to talk about this so she wasn't going to be the one to start it.

She walked over to the rack, easing herself down onto it slowly, too slowly. Bill noticed this but went on pretending to be reading. Instead of lying down she lifted her legs onto the bed and leant against the wall. She took off her glasses, folded them up and folded her arms tightly around herself, tipped her head back so it was also leaning against the wall and closed her eyes. These actions also didn't go unnoticed by Bill.

For a few moments they say in silence, him pretending to read and her pretending to rest. Both on high alert to any movement and noise.

"Rough day?" The sound of his gruff voice made her jump and she opened her eyes. He was still looking at the book pretending to read.

"You could say that."

"I heard you royally pissed Cottle off." His eyes never left to page as he spoke.

She snorted. "He's and ass. Nags at me to go to sickbay, when I'm there, nags at me to leave."

Bill smiled. "Well that ass, is the only Doctor we have and he's good at what he does. So if he wants to nag, there is nothing you can do but let him."

"Mmmm." replied Laura.

"Why were you at sickbay?" His eyes were still on the book.

The edge of panic elbowed Laura.

"I was visiting my Ensign Matthews."

"Doc says you've been doing that a lot."

"Have you been checking up on me?"

"No, I just want to make sure you're ok."

That last statement had him looking directly at her and her feeling very guilty and selfish. She winced and tightened her arms around her chest. That, did not go unnoticed but Bill either.

"What's going on Laura?"

"Nothing."

"Crap."

"No it's not."

"You're avoiding my like the plague and spend most of your time in a place you despise and constantly avoid. And you wanna still say you're fine?"

She frowned. He had caught her there and they both knew it. Before she could reply though she winced again and pulled her arms even tighter around herself.

Not being able to ignore it any longer Bill spoke.

"What's wrong with your arms?" Concern laced him question.

"Nothing is wrong with my arms." She slightly emphasised the word arms which gave Bill the clue that she was in some discomfort somehow.

She let out a small noise when another throb of pain vibrated through her chest. She cursed herself for letting it escape her.

Bill stood and walked over to her and stopped until he was standing in front of her, shadowing her face from the light.

"Are you ok?" He was truly worried now and she couldn't take his questions anymore, she just wanted to be alone.

"Yes, can you just..." Another throb of pain hit and she closed her eyes, this time loosening her arms and bringing her right hand up to push firmly on her left breast.

"Laura?" Bill's voice was more persistent and she just wanted him to drop it but at the same time, she wanted his help. When she didn't answer he called her name again. This time she looked up at him, he eyes were slightly filled with tears. He crouched down in front of her and asked again.

"Laura are you ok?"

"My medication isn't working today, Cottle said I'd just have to wait it out. It helps when I put pressure on it."

He didn't entirely believe that the tears were from just pain, but took it anyway.

He sat down on the bed next to her and leaned against the wall. He gently put a hand around her shoulders and pushed her forward and angled her until she was leaning against his chest. He wrapped one arm around her middle and the other came to sit on top of hers. He pushed down on top of her hand to help her with the pain.

The tears in her eyes were making tracks down her face at his gesture to help her. He didn't like seeing her in pain but knew there wasn't much to be done about it. He laid his chin on her shoulder and pushed him nose into her neck.

"I love you." It came as barely audible sound, muffled by her skin but she heard his words all the same. She smiled and turned to plant a kiss on his temple. He would be there with her until she slept, when the pain wouldn't be a problem.

---

Lee sat at her bedside holding her hand. She had been in a coma for six days now and her condition wasn't promising.

"You're gunna be ok. You're life isn't gunna end like this. It can't."

Since Lee had met Gaia she had become a kind of younger sister to him. He felt the need to protect her and she always poked at him for fun. He didn't want to lose her and he couldn't stand to think what that would do to another person if she died.

---

Laura stood outside the curtain watching Lee whisper soft words to Gaia while holding her hand. It was such a sweet sight and she almost didn't want to interrupt. But she wanted to spend some time with her daughter.

She entered the curtain and Lee placed her hand gently back onto the bed and stood to leave.

"You don't have to leave Mr. Adama. You can stay."

"With all due respect Ma'am I think I should. I don't want to intrude."

Laura was confused. "Intrude on what Lee?"

"Well she's your daughter, I thought you might want to be alone with her."

Laura froze. Lee just realised what he had said and wanted to find the nearest airlock before Gaia awoke so that she couldn't kill him first.

"H-How long have you known?" she whispered.

"Since Gaia told me, just after New Caprica. You know??" Last Lee had heard, Gaia refused to tell her.

"Yes. Doc Cottle told me about a week ago, when she was looking for the Base Star."

"He wasn't meant to, she is gunna have him when she wakes up." Laura smiled.

"I know, but I don't care, I'm glad he told me." She took in a shaky breath. "I'm glad he told me that my little girl is alive."

At that moment the monitors and countless machines in the room started going crazy just before Jack stormed through the curtain.

"What the frak is going on??"

"Nothing, we were just talking."

"Right. Move!!" He yelled at Lee before shoving him out of the way. He thought it was best he take Laura out of there before Cottle rounded on her. She didn't need to see this anyway. He dragged her with him, her barely resisting but still wanting to stay.

---

Cottle looked around at his team and hung his head.

"Call it."

---

Lee and Laura waited impatiently outside the curtained off area. Jack came into view. Laura had been pacing so she didn't see him but when Lee stood she turned around. His eyes said all they need to know. Lee pressed his fingers into his eyes trying to maintain his composure while Laura stood stock still with her hands on her hips. Her lips parted for her to speak but no words came out. Only a strangled sob as she turned and half ran out of sickbay.

**(Don't do it. I have a life that I like living so don't kill me ok. The plot thickens, Lee knew all along and there's some squee for the A/R lovelies. Happy Valentine's day for Saturday if I don't have a chapter up before then. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!! GODS DAMMIT)**


	25. A Cry For Lady Dedlock

**(The name of the last chapter was meant to be that Laura's pain is the Gods' pleasure, yeah... I had a lot of pleas not to kill Gaia, and yes I DID technically kill her, kinda of. You will have to wait and see. And yes I DO like happy endings. I just like prodding my characters, or at least RDM's characters. Enjoy!)**

Laura was moving at a fast pace, trying as hard as she could not to sink to the floor and burst into tears, she felt that her legs would give out at any moment. She looked around as she went for a place to close out the world and hide. She saw the hatch to the Observation Deck and went to open it, hoping it was empty. As she did the hatch opened for her and she ran into someone. Taking a few steps back she saw it was Bill and immediately turned to run the other way.

---

Bill had been standing in on the Observation Deck for over an hour, contemplating Laura's iciness towards him. He knew he should get back to CIC soon so he decided to leave. He turned the hatch to open is and was greeted with someone knocking into him. The form took a few steps back and as he regained his composure he saw it was Laura, she turned to run seeing that it was him and he instantly grabbed her arm and pulled her into the room. He shut the hatch and locked it.

"Let go of me!!" Her voice sounded watery.

She tried to shake him off but he only tightened his grip on her shoulders, making sure not to hurt her though.

He didn't say a word and she continued to struggle.

"Admiral Adama, take your hands off me." Ordered the President. There being absolutely no authority in her voice.

Bill once again ignored her and stooped to look directly into her eyes, or at least try. She had stopped struggling but was looking away from him. He kept looking at her, looking for her eyes, waiting for her to look at him. She continued to look away so he merely softly let go of her and stood up straight. This action made her look up at him, which he knew it would. Then he looked down at her and directly into her eyes, reading her. He saw her world in that moment and it was completely shattered. What had happened to her?

---

Lee had been standing in the same position for about three minutes. He just couldn't believe she was gone. Cottle stood beside the curtain with his head hung low. Lee looked up at him, trying not to cry and walked forward into the bay. He saw her, lying there, quite pale. She had a tube still in her mouth, but all the other wires and tubes and pads had been removed from her body. He walked over to her and touched her arm. She was cold, not freezing but cold. Her brown locks were sprawled over the stretcher and a single lock of her fringe was sitting just over her forehead. Lee sat down in the chair beside her and picked up her hand, bringing it to his face. He began to cry.

---

"Tell me." It wasn't a question nor a plea. Just a single command that undid her.

She hung her head and began to shake, the urge to sink to the floor and cry was reappearing, but before her legs could buckle she felt strong arms wrap around her and bring her close to warmth.

"She's dead isn't she?" whispered Bill.

When Laura's sobs increased, he knew that the answer was yes.

He heard a muffled plea, her saying she wanted to see her.

At that and the state Laura was in, he knew what his son had told him was true. Gaia wasn't just a bodyguard anymore, she never was to begin with.

**(And once again, the plot thickens. This was short yes, the next chapter should be up in a few hours if I don't die from a Panadol overdose (long story) Anyway Review as always please my wonderful people, hope you all had a good V-day :D)**


	26. Unwillfully Dead

**(See this is why you love me and why you don't kill me, besides the fact that if you did this story would effectively end. Oh yes. Enjoy.)**

"I-ii wanna see her." Came a muffled sob, again.

"Okay, we will, but how about you calm down first." Bill rubbed circles in her back, trying to soothe her just a little. He knew she'd appreciate herself looking composed as she went through the halls of Galactica.

After she had regained part of herself he led her out of the Observation Deck and to sickbay. Where they found Lee sitting in a nearby chair with his head in his hands. Laura walked up to him and crouched beside him, steadying herself with the chair. She touched his arm and removed his hands from his face to look at her. He gave a soft smile and she gave him that worrying look of concern she had once given him on the day of the attacks.

She slowly stood and walked over to the curtain that she was all too fond with. She lifted her hand to touch the curtain.

"She's not in there." said a gruff voice. Laura looked at where it came from and saw Cottle leaning against a bulkhead with a cigarette in his mouth. She was going ask what he meant but Lee began first.

"They took her to the morgue, about five minutes ago."

"I told them to use as many backstreet hallways as they could. Wouldn't draw attention that way." added Cottle.

Laura dropped her hand back by beside herself and left sickbay. Bill sighed and followed her.

It felt like hours before she finally found the morgue, she had only been there once, to see Billy. That she could barely handle, but this. She pushed open the semi clear door to reveal an icy cold room that made her shiver where she stood. She looked around the room and stopped. She heard a muffled bang and her heart stopped. She turned towards the small, square, metal door that the noise was coming from. Cautiously she walked towards it and as she got closer she saw the name tag. _Gaia Matthews._ Laura freaked and ripped the door open and pulled the slab out.

---

Bill saw Laura enter the morgue and decided to wait outside, thinking she needed some time to herself.

---

"Oh my Gods." There on the slab Laura saw Gaia, with her eyes wide open looking around hesitantly.

"Gaia?"

**(BTW, if the title of the last chapter didn't make sense either it was a kind of spit towards the novel/show Bleak House. Those of you who have seen it will know of the tragedy of Lady Dedlock and Esther, need I say more. I made a wallpaper/picture for my fic, finally got around to it.**

**Link:**

**.com/albums/oo222/mikkibear13/PictureLinks/?action=view¤t=**

**PLEASE REVIEW!!!)**


	27. The Domain Of Living

**(Oh how much I just lurrrve history. Can be such a bludge at times. Luckily for you guys cause it's pretty much the only chance I get to write a the moment. Enjoy dudes and review please.)**

She couldn't lift her arms, she couldn't move her legs, she could barely feel her body. She was faintly hovering but being weighed down at the same time. It was cold, silent and haunting. She had no idea where she was, but when she opened her eyes and peered at the roof, she saw bright lights and ceiling bulkheads.

The sound of the door hastily opening startled her and the hitched breathing of another in the room broke the silent air.

"Gaia."

She heard the fast click-clack of familiar shoes. The person had run up to her and was standing over her, looking down at her. Her sight was so blurry that she couldn't make out the figure's face. A hand was place on her temple and another on the opposite cheek. She could feel the warms hands tremble as she tried to clear her vision.

"You're okay, it's gunna be okay." Said a familiar and shaky voice.

---

Bill had been waiting outside for only a few minutes before he heard Laura call his name. He knew something was wrong and he burst through the door to find Laura holding Gaia's unconscious, limp form close.

"Laura what are you doing?" whispered Bill.

"Bill, Bill, she is alive. W-when I came in her were open and when I went over to her she looked at me." stuttered Laura.

"Are you sure it wasn't just your imagination?"

"No!" snapped Laura. "I saw it, she is alive. We need Cottle." replied Laura.

"Okay. How are we getting there?"

---

"Why is this girl back in my sickbay?" boomed Cottle, as Bill came into the room carrying Gaia and Laura closely behind. He placed her on the nearest bed and quickly stepped back.

"The President said that she is alive..." Bill started but Laura cut in. "Her eyes were open and when she saw me, she looked straight at me." She was so close to tears now.

The good doctor stepped forward and touched his stethoscope to Gaia's chest. He raised his eyebrows.

"Ishay." He drew the young nurse's attention. "Set up a heart monitor and if I'm right, get an I.V ready." Ishay did so and out the wires in the appropriate places. She was ready to turn the machine on and Cottle nodded. She flipped the switch.

Nothing was heard, Laura was holding her breath, Bill was standing behind her, hoping to high heaven that Laura's worst fears wouldn't be confirmed. Finally a single beep sounded, and then another and then another until they were flowing in a steady rhythm. Laura let out her breath. Bill smiled along with Ishay and Cottle couldn't believe it.

"Well I'll be damned..."

---

It had been about half an hour since they had found Gaia alive and Doctor Cottle had been doing some tests so see when exactly happened. Laura had been wearing a hole in the floor next to Gaia's bed the whole time. When Bill saw Cottle sigh and walk in away, he went after him to get some answers.

"Well Doctor??" probed Bill.

At that moment Laura burst through the curtain and stalked towards Jack, feeling that this could not end well Bill stuck

his arm out and held it in front of her making her stop in her tracks.

Laura held an arm up and pointed straight at Cottle.

"Do you have any idea what you put me through??" Bill looked surprised, what the hell was she on about.

Even though sickbay was particularly quiet that day, he couldn't help but hear everyone stop and listen.

"Madame Presi..." began Cottle.

"Don't." She shook her head and took a step back, placed her hands on her hips and began to pace.

"Madame President I would be more than happy to explain what happened if you would just step into my office." Jack was

trying to keep his cool but it wasn't going well, he didn't appreciate the flak he was copping when there was a reasonable explanation

for what happened.

The President ignored him and continued pacing, Jack huffed and started for his office, not wanting to deal with this today.

"Laura..." Bill spoke softly and she stopped. she looked at him and he held out his hand, after a few seconds she took it and allowed him

to lead her into the Doctor's office.

Once they were in Bill closed the door and turned around.

"Sit." Ordered Cottle. Laura glared at him but complied, Bill however remained standing.

"I am sorry for the stress and heartache I put you through Madame President but I assure you what happened was an accident, all my staff

agreed and we called it."

"Then why did I find her in a steel box in the morgue scared out of her mind??" Came Laura's reply in a dangerously low tone.

"I ran some tests and found out that she has Catalepsy." Bill and Laura both gave the same questioning look. Jack continued.

"Catalepsy is nervous condition where a patient's body can become rigid and stiff regardless of external stimuli."

"And how does this lead you to believe that someone that is alive is dead?" asked Laura.

"Well that's not all it does, Catalepsy can decrease a person's sensitivity to pain pretty much ten fold. Some symptoms are

no responsiveness, loss of muscle control, and slowing down of bodily functions."

"Meaning?" asked Bill.

"Meaning, someone who has no control of their body, is non-responsive, shows no response to pain and has slowed bodily functions down to

point where their vitals no longer appear on the monitor, appears to be dead. Ishay checked her pulse to be certain, and didn't get a

reading. Her heart beat was so slow that not even we could find a pulse. Her pulse being what it was made breathing almost unnecessary

therefore she showed no signs of it. She, in all medical respects, was dead."

Laura and Bill sat there dumb founded. They had never heard of suck a condition, thoughts of people being buried and waking up in coffins

ran through their minds but they quickly shook them off.

"Just be happy she's alive."

**(Omgod I didn't think this was gunna make 1000 words but it has. WOOO! Well I hope you enjoy this update, may be the only one for a while, irony is that I told Vania if she posted hers ASAP I would post mine straight after, she ended up being done and I actually held her up. So I'm not making that promise again unless it's already written. PLEASE REVIEW GUYS!!!)**


	28. An Undiscovered Beauty

**(I figured I may have an angry mob after me soon if I didn't at least try to write something. I may be able to update once I week if I keep writing in my History lessons. Obviously I had History today if you didn't guess... Enjoy!)**

Laura sat by Gaia's bedside never taking her eyes off her face. Cottle had just been in to inform her that he had put Gaia into an induced coma give her brain a chance to heal on it's own. This meant Laura still wouldn't be able speak to her daughter, but Cottle had also said that "she will hear every word."

Laura's hand encased Gaia's, trying to warm it, hoping to wake her. She brought it to her cheek and let her tears flow over her fingers.

"You're too young to be doing things like this. Too young to be going through these things." She whispered. "I just got you back." She couldn't hold it in anymore and she wept. "I remember when I lost you, I can't go through that again..."

---

_She sat in her room upset. All the other kids had what she didn't, they had a father, she only had a mother. She sat, wallowing in her sadness when she heard a light tap on her window. She got up and pushed open the window. No one seemed to be there until a man with piercing blue eyes popped into sight._

"_Who are you?"_

_The man quickly grabbed her and she let out a blood curdling scream. Her mother came through the door and the man yanked her through the window. Her mother started yelling her name, and she called for her mother back. The man dashed around the corner just as her mother stuck her head out the window. It was so quiet, she could hear her own heart beat in her ears. The man had his hands over her mouth to stop her from making any noise. She could just see her window and her mother frantically looking around still screaming her name. When she looked in their direction the man stepped out of sight further around the corner. Her mother was still yelling._

"_Evie!!... Evie... EVIE!!!!!"_

_---_

_The man ran, he ran so fast, faster than she's ever run. He could run for ages and never stop. Her mother's screams faded into the background. As they got further and further away. When he finally stopped, she recognised where they were, but she did not know its name. Her mother had taken her here a few times. The man set her down on the stone steps in the middle of the square. He stepped back and pointed at her._

"_Don't move okay? I'll be back in a minute." The man jogged away and she looked after him. Once satisfied that he wouldn't notice if she escaped, she got up and ran. She got clear across the square and turned a corner and ran straight into someone's legs. She fell back onto the concrete and the man crouched over her and helped her up._

"_What is your name?"_

_She looked up at him with her big bright eyes but said nothing._

"_Where are your parents?"_

_She continued to stare at him but didn't speak._

_He made a move to touch her but she flinched away._

"_Hey hey it's alright, I'm not going to hurt you. I promise. I'm gunna take you somewhere safe."_

_He tried a second time to touch her and this time she let him. He tucked a hair behind her ear and gently picked her up._

"_You're okay."_

_---_

"_You don't like talking much do you?" That was pretty much an understatement considering she hadn't spoken a word since she had met him. He said his name was Nathaniel. And no matter how many times he asked what her name was or about her parents, she wouldn't answer. She became especially withdrawn when he mentioned her mother. Over time he learnt what to say and what not to say._

_It had been a couple of weeks since he'd found her. When he'd taken her to the police, everything went on from there. He fostered her and was allowed to adopt her if he wanted. The forms had just come through and it was official. She still wouldn't talk and he needed something to call her. He noticed that she took an interest in nature, she loved flowers and plants and trees and her favourite colour was green. He decided to call her Gaia and had asked if she liked that name and she agreed that she did. Gaia was the goddess of Earth and Demeter was the goddess of Mother Nature. Even though Gaia liked nature, he named her Gaia instead because she seemed to somewhat of an undiscovered beauty. And in the myth surrounding Earth, its nature was just as lush with life as the colonies._

_The years past and when Gaia was about seven she began to speak again. When she had been taken from her mother and stopped speaking, she was only four, so her vocabulary wasn't very good. She was behind in her classes, despite being very bright. The years continued to go on. When Gaia turned twelve, her father had to go on a mining expedition to the local asteroid belt. She had been on trips with him loads of times but not into space. They had agreed that she could come if she started to try again in school. On Nathaniel's third day of mining the fall began. He counted it lucky that he had taken Gaia with him because she likely wouldn't have survived if he hadn't._

_A colonial official transport had found them and taken them back to a bunch of other ships that had been found before them. President Adar had not survived the attacks and a woman, who he knew to be the Secretary of Education, had been sworn in. He wouldn't have usually been so accepting of her leadership, but it was her who refused to abandon them and ultimately saving his life and putting together the fleet._

_More years went on and New Caprica's devastating events came and went. When she was fourteen she had been offered the opportunity to become a viper pilot like she wanted and began studying all she could. At sixteen she was allowed in the cockpit but not in battle. She was working her way closer every day until the Admiral had a proposition for her that she could hardly refuse, despite not favouring it over being a pilot. The President, the former Secretary of Education, the woman her father had said had saved them all, needed her help. So she agreed to protect her to the best of her ability, working out some shocking truths along the way._

**(Ugh, I'm going to bed. Yes Vania, I said this wouldn't be up until this afternoon, its 2:18am. But I got it done so no one nit-pick my timing and just read it and review. Please of course.)**


	29. Her Cunning Escape

**(I can't remember who I promised m/d moments too but whoever it was. Enjoy!!**

**Oh BTW, I am now officially copyrighting Gaia and her name. *Gives stern look.*)**

Laura had fallen asleep at Gaia's beside with her head on her arms. She still had hold of Gaia's hand, gripping it fairly tightly even as she slept. Ever so slightly something next to her twitched, she didn't feel it at first but it happened again. The small movement made her jump and she woke suddenly.

Looking around she felt it again and sought out the source of the movement. She saw Gaia's hand twitch for what she could guess wasn't the first time. Her hand then moved out of Laura's grip and slowly drifted up to her neck. She let her hand fall limp and it rested on her chest. She was only just waking and Laura could see that she was attempting to bring herself to quicker.

She began to stir and her eyes fluttered open.

---

She was lying in warm darkness. It wasn't even swirling around her, it was her, it inhabited her. She could feel it like never before. It was so warm, so so warm. She almost adored and she definitely welcomed it. It was, nice, something different. But it was changing, she felt the darkness move, the warm fade slowly. It's like she was rising out of whatever she was stuck in, and she didn't want to.

Everything was becoming sharper, more defined. The warmth was gone now and sounds and noises were coming to her. She could hear them clearly. The feeling in her body was numbed but she could still feel it. She noticed her breath, the fact that she was breathing. In the warm darkness she hadn't realised. Then numbness in her limbs was dissipating. She tried to move some part of her, only managing to make her hand twitch a few times.

She did notice however that something was wrapped around her hand, she didn't know what. With the feeling becoming more prominent she tried to bring her hand up to her face, only managing to weakly drag it most of the way and let it rest. She started to open her eyes, with them failing to do so the first few times until she succeeded. It was bright, painfully bright so she slammed her eyes shut again and swallowed harshly.

She heard a chair scrape across the floor as someone stood. A shadow then blocked the light that was shining through her eyelids. She opened them to see a blurry face hovering over her. The face and body it belonged to quickly moved away, letting the light once again sharply blind her. She heard a voice call for someone, and the clatter that followed as they came running.

---

She saw Gaia open her eyes only to squeeze them tightly shut moments later. Laura stood up, pushing the chair she had been sitting/sleeping in out with her legs as she did. She leaned over Gaia, trying to make sure she wasn't imagining what she saw, and when Gaia opened her eyes again and stared up at her she quickly removed herself and yelled for Cottle. He was passing through the curtain almost instantly and went straight to checking on Gaia.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he examined her.

"She opened her eyes." replied Laura.

Cottle seemed to take no notice of what Laura said and continued to examine Gaia. This time she opened her eyes fully and didn't close them.

---

Hearing another in the room made familiarity pull her into complete consciousness.

She blinked furiously to clear vision. When she could finally see, it was so bright that she still couldn't make out people's faces. Giving her eyes time to adjust which felt like ages. She made out the worried expressions of Doctor Cottle and President Laura Roslin. _Mum._

"Gaia? Gaia can you hear me?"

"Ms Roslin allow me." came a gruff voice.

With eyes half closed she weakly smirked at knowing what was coming next.

"Wake your lazy ass up now!!"

"I'm awake."

She was amazed at how quiet her voice was compared to how loud she had expected to sound. She heard three sighs of relief erupt in the room. _Three? Weren't there only two people in here?_

"Hey Doc." Kara, it was Starbuck.

Looking over at Gaia she spoke. "Lee is going to be so happy you're alive kid."

---

Three days confined to a hospital bed when you feel fine isn't exactly paradise in itself. Cottle wouldn't let her leave and Laura, being oddly overly protective, wouldn't let her either. So now here she was, getting dressed, in hope of sneaking out before anyone came to check on her.

She donned the last of her clothing and slipped out of the curtain. She slowly, with light feet, made her way to the hatch and left. Breathing a sigh of relief she walked down the corridor confident that she wouldn't see anyone that she directly knew.

Getting to the hangar bay she found the chief and conned him into letting her take a raptor to Colonial One. He refused to let her pilot it alone since someone had to bring it back.

---

She stepped off the raptor and in what felt like seconds, found herself in her quarters. She flopped onto the bed and let her senses roam her surroundings.

**(From word 538 to 823, this chapter was fuelled by gummy bears, multiple bottles of solo and very very very little sleep. From 824 and on, it was fuelled but a master hangover and horrible realisation of neglect. :D Please Review)**

**Oh and Happy Easter. Bit late yes I know, but that's how long ago I started writing this.)**


	30. In Her Mother's Arms

**(Here, Vania. Enjoy it. My fun is now over.)**

Gaia lay still on her bed for a long time. Thinking about things in general. How she's found her mother that she can't be a daughter to was at the front of her mind. She was staring into space timelessly until her hearing registered a pair of high heels coming towards her quarters.

She quickly got up from her position on the bed and just as quickly regretted it. Her head still rung from the smack it had gotten. The room spun with sickening slowness and she fell back onto her bed. Her muscles kicked in just in time to force her body into a sitting position and not fall off the other side of the bed. She hung her head in her hands and dug her palms into her eyes. She felt like crying.

She heard the footsteps grow louder and stop what she guess was right outside the curtain. She curtain swished to the side to allow the President to enter her quarters. Gaia didn't bother moving, being quite certain that she didn't want to see her mother's face. As soon as Laura saw Gaia sitting on the bed she stopped.

There was a deafening silence that held the room at a standstill. Laura opened and closed her mouth several times while she noticed that Gaia made no attempt to look at her. She just sat there, her head in her hands. Laura didn't know how to start. She took a deep breath.

"Doc Cottle is gunna have both of us when he realises you're missing."

Instead of replying with some smartass comeback, Gaia remained in the same position, not saying a word. Laura at first didn't take this as a sign that something was wrong.

Instead she gently walked over to where Gaia was sitting and sat on the bed next to her. There was a silence. Not quite awkward, but definitely strange. Laura broke it first.

"What's wrong?"

One again Gaia didn't answer.

"Gaia talk to me." I was a mere whisper

Gaia was sure that was the first time she had heard her mother use her given name. It has surprised her to the degree that she raised her head and looked straight ahead for a few seconds until turning to Laura. Laura could see how exhausted she was, but didn't comment on it.

"Are you alright?"

It took her a couple of seconds to find her voice but this time, she did answer.

"No." It was simple and yet concise. Laura hadn't anticipated such a response, in fact, she knew that her features had shown her surprise.

Gaia went to speak again but Laura but her off. Deciding it was the right time, if only time, to reveal what she knew.

"I jus..."

"I'm your mother." Blurted out Laura.

Gaia's eyes widened. "What? H-how? No wait." She stopped tripping over her own words and stood up. Placing her hands on her hips she paced the space in front of Laura until coming to a stop and speaking.

"How do you know?"

Laura didn't answer and simply looked down.

"That son of a bitch." Cursed Gaia.

"He had every right..."

"He had no frakking right. It was my information to give, not his."

"That might be true, but would you have ever have given it?" Gaia stayed silent. "Gaia you are my daughter, I lost you 12 years ago, I almost lost you again a few days ago. You just admitted to me that you wouldn't have told me yourself, and I doubt you ever would before I died. If I had left this existence, never knowing you're the significance of who you were, I would have died uncompleted. You were right, I do feel like I'm leaving someone else behind, but I know you'll be just fine, without me." Gaia didn't know what to say.

Laura changed the focus of the issue. "How did you work out so quickly that I was your mother?"

Gaia contemplated her answer a few moments. "Your perfume, I do remember, even at four that it smelt lovely. But the stuff made me cough something fierce. First time I saw you on New Caprica, first thing I wanted to do was cough. Took me a few days to click but I worked it out. Then when Adama asked me for my help, it was like the gods were throwing me a rope. A chance to be a little closer to my mother, and all the same make sure nothing happened to you. If I said who I was, you would take me out of that position. I also couldn't face telling you who I was and watching you lose me again. Not again."

Laura didn't realise she was crying until a salty tear touched her lips. She wiped her eyes hastily.

Gaia sat down beside her, Laura took Gaia's hand. At this small action, all Gaia's fears, hopes and reality lifted off her shoulders for a moment. She began to cry. Laura wrapped her arms around her daughter so tightly, in fear of her simply disappearing. Gaia turned into her mother's embrace and cried into her shoulder. Laura whispered soothing tones into her ear.

"Never again, do you hear me? This is it, you're mine. You're mine." Gaia calmed down but didn't move, she was quite happy where she was. In her mother's arms.

"So, what did you have me when you were like forty or something?" Quipped Gaia.

"No.. I was thirty-seven when I had you." Replied Laura.

"So who is my dad?" Gaia sniffed, not quite expecting the answer she was about to receive.

"Do you know who the President before me was?" asked Laura. Gaia quickly moved back to look at her directly.

"Baltar?"

"No further back, the last President before the attacks."

"Adams. No.. Adaria or something wasn't it?" Gaia couldn't remember his name, but she knew who Laura meant.

"Richard Adar." Helped Laura.

"That's him."

Laura didn't go on, instead she just stared at Gaia. Gaia stared back. Her eyes widened when realised hit.

"You're kidding... that prat's my father?"

Laura merely nodded. Gaia stood in shock. "But he was married." Laura nodded even though it wasn't a question. "I'm the illegitimate child of two Presidents? One of which wasn't known for his intelligence or popularity, and the other..." Laura finished her sentence for her. "Was his Secretary of Education at the time, as I told Lee, I just couldn't say no."

"If I were old enough, I would be needing a drink." Gaia deadpanned.

"Gaia.." Laura started.

"Nahh I'm okay, it's just something I wasn't expecting. Gods I didn't get any genes from him did I?"

"Well your eyes aren't mine, and your hair isn't my colour. As for who you are, I can't comment. But just take comfort in the fact that who you are is who you were brought up by."

"Then how is it I'm exactly like you?"

**(*whistles* I was thinking about making Baltar the father at the last minute cause that woulda been interesting but I can't stand the bastard and don't really want him in my story to be honest. I applaud the two people who openly guessed it was Adar. Please Review. Sorry it's so late.)**


	31. Something She Might Rather Forget

**(*Clears throat* And we're off.)**

"_Some say sleep is the death of each day's life. But I say, sleep is the gateway to our dreams, and our dreams are the map of our humanity. Ever watched a child sleep? They almost always smile, they know what's coming." - Allison Dubois(character)._

It was late in the night and most of the ship was asleep. All the lights had been turned off or dimmed down to an acceptable level and she found herself standing in a dark doorway watching her daughter sleep. After their emotional conversation four nights ago they hadn't been able to be mother and daughter with each other since. Laura was still stuck at where she had always been these past twelve years. She had her daughter back, she knew where she was and she knew that she was safe, but she didn't have Gaia back. She got the impression that Gaia was avoiding her. Beyond her job of protecting Laura, she found every way possible to not be around her and Laura didn't know why.

She had started coming to her room at night and watching her sleep. She looked perfect, in her own little world. A small but almost constant smile on her face while she dreamt. Laura at times, found her own features twitching up into a smile when she saw the contentment on her daughter's face.

It was a comforting sight in these hopeless times. Though watching her daughter sleep, brought back some memories that she might rather forget…

---

"_Laura... Laura!" She could hear the muffled calls of her name through the thin concrete walls. "Laura?" The door swung open and the woman calling her name stepped into the room. "Laura I know you're in here." Laura didn't answer, she didn't have to face anyone right now if she didn't want to._

_She heard the woman sigh. "Laura you have to come out sometime." The woman heard quiet sniffles coming from inside the only locked cubicle. "Laura?" The latch on the door slowly twisted to vacant and Laura pulled open the door. Her mascara was in wet streaks down her face and her hair was slightly messed from the constant running of hands through it._

_The woman saw her face and her features softened. "What's wrong?" Laura was leaning against the cubicle wall, staring absent mindedly at a tile not too far from the woman's feet. When she finally spoke her voice came out in a whisper. "Ohh Jane what have I done?" On the last word she looked into the woman's eyes._

_Jane, getting slightly worried now raised one eyebrow in confusion. It was a look that always made Laura giggle, not this time. "I don't know what have you done?" Laura looked away from her and focused on her favourite tile. "Laura?" Jane urged her to tell her what'd happened. Instead of answering Laura simply leant further back into the cubicle and retrieved something that had been sitting on top of the back of the toilet._

_As soon as Jane made out the shape of the item in Laura's hand she knew what it was. Laura handed it to Jane. "That's what I've done." Jane looked down to see a little blue cross in the tiny screen. She sighed once more and looked up to find her expectantly looking back._

"_Should I even bother asking who?"_

"_You know who it is." sneered Laura._

"_Well Laura I don't know whether to congratulate you or condole you. It's not like that man didn't have control over you before, when he finds out about this…" Jane paused. "When he finds out about this he's going to rule your life."_

_Laura snorted. "He already does."_

"_Yeah well now its gunna be a whole lot worse and you know it."_

_Laura slide down the wall to the floor and hide her head in her arms. Jane immediately felt horrible. This was a time that her friend needed her to be there, not needed her to give a lecture._

"_Oh Laura I'm sorry, I know you know all this, I just can't stand the thought of Richard frakking Adar ruining your life like this." Jane moved to sit next to her and wrapped her arm around her friend. Laura lifted her head and sniffed. "He k-knows that he's the only one I've been… you know... with. I can't hide this from him, and he'll want me to get rid of it, and I can't do that." Laura burst into tears again. Jane simply held her friend while she cried._

---

It wasn't an exactly happy memory, but it wasn't the thought of Gaia that had upset Laura that day.

---

_Laura was rushing around her house like a headless chicken. She was late, she had over slept and she felt brilliant. Five months ago her whole world seemingly came crashing down around her while a little spark of happiness floated about at the same time. Jane had given her some advice that day and she took it with confidence._

_Just as Laura went to fasten her pants she realized that they didn't fit. "Frak." She had recently gotten larger clothes to accommodate her ever expanding tummy, but they were all in the washing basket and she had hoped one of her old pair would fit with a miracle. She ran down to the kitchen and found a box of safety pins in a draw. She pinned her pants together in a last ditch effort and donned a purple blouse and matching jacket._

_When she inspected herself in the mirror and realized that she wouldn't be able to hide her pregnancy for much longer, but for now it was almost invisible and and for today, she would do._

_---_

_She walked into her office and dropped her case on her desk. Just as she opened it she heard a knock at the door. She looked up to find Jane smiling brightly at her. Laura grinned back._

"_What?"_

"_You have 'I'm going to be a Mum' written all over you." giggled Jane._

_Laura's smile dropped from her face. "Do I really?"_

"_Calm down, don't worry. I just meant that it's obvious that you're really happy. That's all it appears as to anyone else, me on the other hand. Well I know a little more than them don't I?" The cheeky grin on Jane's face widened and she pointed a finger at Laura's stomach._

_Laura placed her hands on her abdomen and looked down with a smile. "Yeah." she sighed. "I'm not going to be able to keep this up much longer." Jane walked further into Laura's office and closed the door. "Well for now you're hiding it well. I wouldn't be able to tell." replied Jane. "How long's it been since you and him last 'did it'?"_

"_Well… three months? Maybe four. He's been away to Picon for three months and it had been a while before he left. He's due back today." Laura bit her lip._

_Jane made a face that portrayed what Laura was thinking. "Well I'd hate to say this but he kinda knows your body better than anyone in this building. Also, he hasn't been here to see you gradually get bigger. It's going to probably be more obvious to him when he comes back you're suddenly looking… rounder?"_

"_Thanks Jane I thought you said you couldn't tell?" Laura snapped._

"_You can't, I'm just saying that because he hasn't been around for the gradual change, he might notice some things a bit quicker than he usually would if he had been here. You get me?"_

_Laura nodded, she wasn't looking forward to seeing him again at all. As if her thoughts were general knowledge, a knock sounded at the door. Jane jumped and turned to look at the door then back at Laura. Laura hesitated at first then took her seat. "Come in." The door opened to reveal Richard Adar. Jane looked at Richard and back at Laura with wide eyes. Laura kept a straight face since Richard was right behind her._

"_Well Laura I best get going. I have a stack longer than my arm on my desk to get through. Good luck." She winked at Laura before turning to leave. "Mr. Mayor." He nodded to Jane as she passed him. He then stepped inside and closed the door._

**(Wow, that half asleep shock idea I had when I was lying in bed the other night kinda paid off didn't it. Don't worry the next chapter is already half written, it was fresh in my mind and 3am, who can pass that up? Please review guys. I'm in a drought here.)**


	32. Gaia Elaina Jane Roslin

**(I hope you guys enjoy. Reviews are like cake. I love them :D Actually I don't like cake. Hmmm…)**

_Laura looked up at him as he closed the distance between him and her desk. She smiled a fake smile._

"_Richard. It's good to see you." A lie._

"_You too Laura." He moved around her desk and wrapped his arms around the chair and her middle. "I've missed you." Laura tried not to shudder at his tone, she knew that tone and she knew what he had on his mind. He shifted his hands lower and she quickly got up from her chair and moved to put the desk between them._

"_Laura what's wrong?" Richard was confused, hadn't she missed him?_

_She plastered that fake smile back onto her face and looked up at him. "Nothing."_

"_Well then." He eagerly rounded the desk and took her in his arms, kissing her hungrily, but it wasn't passion it was horny. Laura struggled to push him away. He stopped kissing her and looked down at her. "Are you sure nothing's wrong?" She nodded but before she could speak the expression on his face changed like a light switch. "Laura, your body feels different." At that she hastily pushed herself out of his embrace and turned to face the window._

"_Laura?" His tone was firm, almost angry._

"_I'm pregnant." Point blank, she wasn't going to dance around this for him._

_He was in shock, he felt the same despair Laura had felt five months ago. When he finally found his voice it was weak. "Is it mine?"_

"_Of course it's yours." spat Laura._

"_Well then you have to get rid of it."_

"_Are you telling me what to do with my own body?"_

"_Yes, y-you can't keep it. Can you imagine the shit storm this will cause? I'm married Laura." He was yelling now._

"_Keep your voice down." she growled. "I know all too well what YOU are. I have no idea what I've been doing these past five years. You're an arrogant self-centered pig Richard. You expect me to get rid of a baby that in itself is a miracle for me, just because you're worried about poor old you? Well it's not going to happen Richard." She took a breath to calm herself and continued. "Besides, the time for that has come and gone." With every word Richard's temper rose, his face reddened and Laura half expected his brain exploded and all._

_He took two long strides towards her until their noses were almost touching. "So you can't get rid of it?" His eyes were like fire and Laura was almost afraid to answer. She swallowed hard. "No. I can't." He took a few steps backwards as if he was planning to leave until he in one quick movement took a step closer to her and back handed her across the face._

_From the force of the blow Laura fell to the ground. She put her hand up to cover her cheek that was now burning. Richard said no more and stormed out of her office. Laura lay there for a second, she was too shocked to cry and too upset to move. Her mind kicked back in and she dragged herself up off the floor to sit at her desk. Suddenly her door opened._

"_Hey Laura I saw him leave, by the look on his face you told him then?" Laura stared at Jane with a weary look on her face, one that said she was fed up with the world. That's when Jane noticed the angry cut on Laura's cheek that was slowly being intensified by the purple bruise welling around it._

"_What the frak did he do to you?" She ran to Laura, having the foresight to shut and lock the door before she did. Jane grabbed one of the chairs in front of Laura's desk and pulled it around to sit next to her. She picked up a tissue and dipped it in the glass of water on the desk before holding it to Laura's face._

"_He hit me." She winced as she spoke. It hurt to talk, she wasn't expecting that._

"_Yeah thanks I think I worked that one out for myself."_

"_He tried to get me to have sex with him, I refused."_

"_He hit you for refusing him?" Jane was shocked._

"_No no, I refused and he tried to kiss me and when I pulled away he still had hold of me. Noticed that my body felt different. So I told him. He hit me when I told him that abortion wasn't an option and hadn't been for a while."_

"_Oh." That made more sense to Jane, Richard Adar was a prick, but he wasn't the type to force sex onto women. Though hitting a woman he'd frakked because she'd gotten pregnant and was keeping it, that she could see him doing._

"_Well your idea of not telling him until it was too late to do anything about worked, sort of. He can't make me get rid of her, he has no leverage over me. Everything he can threaten me with goes both ways. It's not like I'm going to be shouting from the roof tops that I'm having the Mayor's baby. Knowing my luck he'll be President one day." Laura sighed._

_Jane froze and looked at Laura until she caught her eye. "What?" asked Laura._

"_Her?" grinned Jane._

_Laura smiled and placed a hand on her tummy. "Yes, her. I decided I wanted to know."_

"_Oh my gods a little girl. I hope she bloody looks like you."_

_Laura giggled._

"_So, thought of what you might call this lucky little thing?" Jane poked Laura in the side to emphasis who she meant._

"_Yes, I thought either Elaina or Gaia. After one of my sisters, I was thinking maybe after my Mum but, she'd murder me if I did. That's if she could." Laura laughed a sad laugh._

_Jane smiled, "They're both beautiful."_

---

Laura shook herself out of her day dream, it was getting late and she knew she should be getting to bed.

---

The next morning Gaia walked into Laura's quarters and shook her awake.

"What, what is it? What's wrong?"

Gaia sat down on the table behind her. "I wanna know something."

"Okay… but first I want to know is it even a daylight?" said Laura sarcastically.

"Probably not, to be honest I didn't really look at the time, I just got dressed because I couldn't sleep because I want to know something." replied Gaia.

"What do you want to know?"

"What's my name? Like what would be my name if you still had me?"

Laura's heart sunk. "Umm… Gaia Elaina Jane Roslin. The name you go by is the one I gave you."

"Why those names?" questioned Gaia.

"Gaia and Elaina were my sister's names, Jane was my best friend's name. She died on the day you were born, and she supported me through the whole time I was pregnant. From the day I found out 'til the day she died."

---

_Laura yelled in pain as Jane rushed into the room. "Okay I called the taxi and your bag is by the front door and I'm about to have a heart attack." Laura started to laugh in the middle of her contraction._

"_Ohh gods don't make me laugh." giggled Laura in pain._

"_I didn't __realise__ how stressful this is for the guy."_

"_Jane.. you're not a man." Laura said flatly._

"_No but I'm pretty much playing the part aren't I? I'm living on adrenaline right now, worrying like mad and will probably be pacing and biting my nails in the waiting room. That's close enough don't ya think?"_

_Laura would have laughed at her friend's worried face if another contraction hadn't have hit. "Where's that gods damn taxi?" screamed Laura. Just as the words come out of her mouth they heard a horn beep from outside. "Oh thanks the gods." As Jane ran outside to put the bag in the car, Laura waited for her contraction to pass and hauled herself up off the couch._

_She waddled to the door and Jane took her by the arm and helped her to the car. Just as Laura got in, Jane's pager went off. She looked down at it and rolled her eyes._

"_What is it?" asked Laura._

"_Just the office, nothing important."_

"_Do you have to go?"_

"_Probably but they can wait, more important things are happening here." Replied Jane._

"_I don't want this to cause you trouble, you should go."_

"_This, is not going to cause me trouble, don't worry. I'll go as soon as I can, and not any sooner."_

_Laura smiled at her friend, grateful for the support she was so adamant about giving._

_---_

_Laura stopped pacing. She groaned and cried out in pain._

"_That looks like it hurts."_

_Laura looked at Jane with an expression of annoyance. Through gritted teeth she responded._

"_No it's great, you should try it sometime." She gave a pained, sarcastic smile to Jane and looked away. Jane smiled, even in the hardest of times she still couldn't resist poking fun at Laura._

"_Oh gods." Laura exhaled and slammed her hands down against the bed. "Get the nurse."_

_---_

_The nurse gently put the little bundle into Laura's arms. To say that she was exhausted would be the understatement of the year. Jane could not wipe the grin off her face, she was the most perfect baby Jane had ever seen, and she was so proud of her friend._

"_Oh, Laura I think it's safe to say that she already looks like you."_

_Laura looked up at Jane with a raised eyebrow._

"_So you're saying that I'm pink, wrinkly and bald?" Jane laughed._

"_Well you're right, you do have hair." Laura hit Jane's arm jokingly and smiled down at her beautiful daughter. Though Jane did have a point, Laura had never seen a baby that didn't at least have a thin layer of hair on their head, baby Roslin however was completely bald._

_Jane's pager went off again._

"_Okay that is the 6__th__ time it's gone off." whined Jane._

"_Maybe you should go, you're obviously needed and everything here is fine, we can spare you for a couple of hours." Laura yawned. "And besides, I need a nap."_

"_Okay, let me put her down for you." Jane scooped up the baby and placed her in the plastic crib beside the bed. She softly ran a finger down the baby's cheek, straightened up and turned to face Laura. "I'll be back in two hours, three tops."_

_Laura nodded and Jane bent down to give her a tight hug. _

"_She's gorgeous. What are you gunna call her?"_

"_I'm still deciding." admitted Laura._

"_Nothing horrible like Sandy or Skye or something." shuddered Jane._

_Laura giggled and with that Jane left._

_---_

"_Miss Roslin I know this is a hard time and that you're exhausted, but we need you to identify the body as soon as you're able. Laura was in shock, truth be told, she was past shock. She was numb, the police woman's voice was a faint ramble and she could feel her heart beat in her temples, hear her breathing in her ears. She swallowed hard and spoke._

"_I want to go now." Her voice came out harsher than she was expecting it to._

"_Are you sure, we know this is a tough ti…" Laura cut the officer off._

"_Yes I'm sure just get me a gods damn wheel chair and take me to see her."_

_---_

_The officer pushed open the door to the morgue and wheeled Laura in. The air was as cold as ice, nothing like the room she had just come from. You didn't need a sign on the door to know what this place was, you could feel the dead here._

_The officer wheeled Laura up to a slab. The mortician did not look at Laura, who simply nodded to say she was ready. The mortician lifted the sheet and pulled it down until the body's head and shoulders were revealed._

_Laura felt hot, wet, stinging tears fill her eyes and she left out a shaky breath. There was Jane lying on a metal slab. Her skin so pale that it was purple, the veins in the side of her face stood out like red wine on a white carpet. Her eyes were open and Laura saw that her normal lovely chocolate eyes were now a crystal blue. They were just staring, dead. Her black hair was knotty and matted, her mouth slightly open and there were deep, dark bruises around her neck._

"_Who would do this?" whispered Laura._

"_We don't know just yet, all we know is that she was found in an alley way not to far from Caprica City Council, we believe she works there?" Replied the officer._

"_Yeah." Said Laura, her voice still a whisper. "She is the Mayor's advisor, we both work there. She got called in for something. I don't know what, but her pager was going off for hours." Laura swallowed sharply. "I think I'd like to go now."_

_Without a word the mortician pulled the sheet back up to cover Jane's face and the officer wheeled Laura back to her room._

_---_

_She had been holding her baby for almost two hours now. Silently crying at the loss she had just experienced, at the sadness of her baby never getting to know her best friend, at the woman that could possibly have saved Laura's life, without even meaning to._

"_Gaia Elaina Jane Roslin. That will be you name little one."_

**(I'm so tired right now. I had to push this scene out, it was all there but the formatting and exact wording were bugging me. 'Tis all good now. REVIEW!!!!!!)**


	33. Oh Nathaniel

**(Sorry it's been so long dudes.)**

Gaia relaxed a bit, until confusion washed over her face.

"What?" questioned Laura.

"When I was… taken, the man that found me, my dad.. I never told him my name, I refused to. After months he just decided to give me a name, and I ended up forgetting my real one over time." answered Gaia.

"What did he name you?"

"No, no you don't get it. HE was the one that named me Gaia, as far as I was concerned, I had never been called Gaia before he decided to give it to me. That's why I wanted to know what you had named me, I assumed it was something completely different."

Laura's look of confusion was now a mirror to her daughter's.

---

"I'm sorry but I can't see how that is even close to being coincidental. It's just too strange. A man finds a four year old in the street running around lost, takes her in, and after months of not revealing her name he just so happens to name her her actual name? I don't think so." Lee shook his head.

Gaia had been silent the entire meeting. Lee was one of the few people who knew who Gaia was to Laura.

"I know Lee." whispered Laura. She looked over to her daughter, who, quite obviously was deep in thought. Just as Laura was about to bring Gaia back from where ever she was, her expression changed. Lee also noticed it.

"Gaia?"

She sat wide eyed and silent for a few more seconds before uttering something in an almost inaudible tone.

"The man with blue eyes."

"What?" Lee and Laura both said at the same time.

Without answering, Gaia jumped out of her seat and stared absent mindedly at the wall across from her, Lee stood in her sight and she appeared to look straight through him, as if he wasn't even there. A lone tear slid down her cheek, she blinked rapidly and looked down at Laura. "We need to speak to Dad."

---

"Nathaniel."

Nathaniel looked up from his work and saw The Admiral's son The President approaching him, with numerous marines following closely behind.

"Madame President, what can I do for you?" He noticed his daughter standing behind The President. His eyes lit up.

"Gaia, come give your old dad a hug." Gaia looked at him with sad eyes but stayed where she was.

Confused he spoke. "What's wrong?"

Lee was about to interrogate him but before he could get a word out, Gaia answered.

"Why did you name me Gaia?"

His brow furrowed. "I don't know, I liked the name, thought it would suit you."

Gaia turned her head in disappointment, she could always tell when he was lying. With her head bowed she spoke again.

"I will always thank the blue eyed man for you my darling." She raised her head and looked him dead in the eye. All emotion had melted from her features and she had her own façade in place now. "You always use to tell me that was a poem you once read, a poem you were reading that day in the square that you found me in."

Nathaniel nodded.

"Why did you lie?"

He looked shocked. "I didn't lie."

Gaia ignored his response and asked another question. "How did you know Leoben?"

Lee and Laura's heads whipped around to face Gaia almost immediately after the words left her mouth.

"What did you just say?" Laura said in a harsh whisper.

Gaia ignored her mother and continued staring down her father.

He opened his mouth to answer but she cut him off.

"Don't even think, about lying to me." Her words were sharp.

Nathaniel sighed. Laura was still gaping at Gaia, trying to work out what she was saying.

"I was in the square reading, a man with steely blue eyes came up to me with a young girl, told me that you had she had no parents, she was unwanted and that she wasn't his responsibility. He told me he was going to leave her in the square to either be taken in or starve and die." Gaia's face never changed, Laura however was now staring at Nathaniel half glaring, half trying to stop the emotion she was feeling.

He continued. "I took her in, she wouldn't tell me her name, I saw flyers of her face on ever post and tree. Her mother, one that the man said she didn't have, was looking for her. I rang the woman, asked her about her daughter and what her name was, said I'd keep a look out for her. I was going to hand her back, but I had already claimed her as the daughter I never had. So I didn't. I kept her. She after months still wouldn't tell me her name, so I named her. Figured she was young enough to forget and so I named her what she was meant to be named. Gaia."

Laura was hit with the memory of what Nathaniel had said. She remembered the kind man that had rung her, the man whose name she didn't get.

Lee was radiating with anger. Gaia kept staring at her father. Laura however didn't, she couldn't look at him.

He hadn't finished. "I know she's your mother Gaia." Laura's head shot up and she saw that he was looking at her. He went on. "When Laura Roslin became president and saved us all, I knew the name meant something to me. Took me a few days but I remembered why it was so important. She was the woman that had lost you. When I realised that despite all odds she had survived and so had you, I wasn't going to let her have you. I…"

Gaia stopped him with a pointed finger, she pushed herself past Laura and Lee so that she was standing toe to toe with him. Still pointing at his face. "You're the one." He bowed his head, knowing she now knew.

Gaia threw her arm back to her side, she wanted to tear him to pieces. Instead, she just yelled at him.

"ALL THESE YEARS OF NOT HAVING A MOTHER OR A FAMILY AND YOU HAD THE POWER THE ENTIRE TIME TO GIVE ME THAT. YOU STOPPED ME FROM BEING WHERE I BELONG. YOU KEPT ME ALL THESE FRAKKING YEARS AND WHEN YOU REALISED THAT MY MOTHER SURVIVED, YOU…" She turned to Lee instead. "He has been the one all along. He has been threatening The President, he's been trying to kill her."

Lee's face contorted to anger, he spotted Nathaniel eyeing the knife on the work bench beside them. Laura stepped forward and grabbed Gaia by the shoulders, dragging her back behind her. Nathaniel took another look at the knife and before Lee could move, he grabbed it, grabbed Laura and held it to her throat.

"DON'T!" screamed Lee.

"Why are you doing this?" cried Gaia.

"Because you're mine!" There was an almost insane glint in his eye.

"You tried to assassinate her to keep me away from her, but you only pushed us closer. I was put in charge of protecting her. Don't you see, your little plan backfired DAD!" spat Gaia. "It's over."

"No, not yet it's not." Nathaniel tightened his grip on Laura and drew the knife up into her skin. Lee made a grab for them and knocked Nathaniel off his balance, Laura slipped out of his hold and onto the floor. Gaia ran to her and turned her over. Lee knocked the knife out of his hand and with one swift punch, knocked Nathaniel out clean.

"LEE! He cut her!"

**(So now my little plot bunny is all out in the open, there is no more surprises PLOT WISE. But I am going to twist my way to the end muahahahaha. Just so you know. Something I recently found out and have now confirmed is that in the series, Laura's dead sisters are called Cheryl and Sandra. That is a fact not speculation. Please Review.)**


	34. So Say We All

**(It took me ages to start writing this chapter, my story is taking a twist. Actually no it isn't, but I'm taking a new approach. But there is going to be an Adama speech in this one, and we all know how famous he is for those, so I better make this bloody good, especially because of it's content. What have I gotten myself into?)**

She sat there, silently, staring absent mindedly at the floor metres away from her. And by her she didn't mean herself. There she was, lying stiller than life itself, she looked beautiful. Gaia's world was a blur at present, it had been for days. People's voices were muffled and delayed, as if someone had placed their hands over her ears and played the days in slow motion. But now, as she watched that spot on the concrete floor, everyone was silent.

She ignored the priest's drone of prayer and proverb, it was a quiet lull in the back of her head. Though at least Laura was getting what she wanted. Gaia remembered at Cally's funeral, she overheard the President whispering to the Admiral that this was exactly what she wanted, when it was her turn. Gaia remembered looking at him at the perfect moment to see the pain on his face, it was as if someone had cut his heart out. _If only she'd seen it, maybe she would have told him sooner, _were Gaia's thoughts at the time.

Gaia faintly recognised that the priest had stopped and looked up to see the Admiral taking his place at the podium.

Bill stood with his back straight, glancing out at the sea of people who'd come to show their respects. All of which had been touched personally by the memory of the woman they were honouring.

"I remember the first time I ever met Laura Roslin, at the time she was still the Secretary of Education and I remember telling her that I would not allow a networked computer aboard this ship. The second time I ever met her, seven hours later, billions of people had been massacred and she had been thrown into the one of the most difficult positions I myself could ever think of. She was now the President of what was left of our colonies, she took an oath to protect what was left of us with every fibre of her being and she was telling me, that the war was over, that we lost. In her first seven hours of being President she put this fleet together and saved every soul that was in it. If she had no have convinced me to run, none of you would be here today. This woman..." He paused and looked over at her body. "This, woman, saved you all.

Sadly her bravery and her courage could not save her from her own demons, but in her last years she used every inch of herself to get us all to this point we are at now. Laura Roslin has earned the peace she so rightfully deserves and now she is in peace, and her memory will forever be with us."

Bill bowed his head in respect and to hide the tears in his eyes that were forming. Suddenly everyone stood and saluted. Lee stepped forward still saluting, he opened his mouth to speak but as he did everyone chorused above him.

"SO SAY WE ALL!"

Bill watched his crew, his friends, his family, show the highest respect to the woman he loved. Lee looked up at his dad and gave a sad smile. "So say we all."

**(Okay, so I don't know why but the whole So say we all moments in BSG always made me cringe because I found them a tad tacky, some of them were deserving but some were just... to meh. I'm not sure why, but as you can imagine it kinda killed me to put that last bit it, well it did until I wrote it, it fitted too well for me not to.)**


	35. Add It To The List

**(I noticed that a few, and by a few I mean most, seriously everyone but two people, were extremely pissed off about my last chapter. I would just like to say that it at the same time is both exactly what it looks like and not what it looks like. Every other fic has her miraculously live somehow. So I did it not just for a bit of variety but also because it might suck and be sad but dudes, it doesn't mean it can't make a good story. So please don't be too mad, because it's not like she isn't gunna be in the story anymore, you know me, I love to backtrack :D:D Please review)**

Lee ran over to them and knelt on Laura's other side. Gaia had her hands firmly around the President's neck while Laura tried to reach for her would.

"Lee keep her hands away."

Lee took hold of Laura's hands and leant over so she could see his face.

"Madame President you're going to be okay, just let us get you back to Galactica."

She attempted to nod but her neck exploded in pain, she felt a pair of hands pressing firmly on the area.

"Don't do that." She heard Gaia's voice and realised the pair of hands belonged to her daughter. Pulling one of her hands free from Lee's she gripped Gaia's right bicep. Gaia locked eyes with her mother before pulling her stare away to focus on Laura's wound.

The marines that had been standing behind them kept their guns firmly pointed on Nathaniel as they stalked closer to him. Lee, still holding Laura's hand, turned to them.

"Two of you get out of here." Lee gestured towards Nathaniel with his free hand. "And the other two, I need you to go ahead of us to the shuttle and inform the pilot of what's happened, also get him to alert Sickbay and the Doctor."

The four marines hurried off fulfilling their tasks. Lee turned back and caught Gaia's eyes, they were swimming in soul filling fear. She swallowed the lump in her throat.

"How we gunna move her?"

If Lee was honest, he had been wondering the exact same thing. Gaia looked around the room for something, anything she could use to help her mother. Finding nothing she turned back to Lee with a frustrated look before noticing something.

"What?" questioned Lee.

Gaia nodded her head upwards at him.

"Your tie, gimme your tie." She exclaimed.

Lee dropped Laura's hand instantly and fumbled with is tie, trying to undo it. He finally got it undone and went to hand it to Gaia.

"No, first slide it under her neck." He did so, now holding both ends on either side of Laura's head.

"Okay now loosely wrap it around my hands and back under her neck so it's doubled over." Lee followed her instructions and was now holding the garment the same as before but it the ends were slightly shorter. _Lucky it's a long tie _he thought.

"Okay now tell me why I just did that."

"Because..." Gaia began but paused to concentrate. She quickly but carefully removed her hands from Laura's neck and grabbed the tie ends off Lee, pulled them tight and tied a knot directly above the wound. As soon as she removed her hands, blood came gushing out of Laura's neck. Gaia sat back on her heels and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.

"Because..." she started again. "I knew that would happen. If I had grabbed the tie off you and did what you did then she would have bled out a hell of a lot more than she did with me getting you to do it."

She blew her fringe out of her face and shook her hands to get the drips of blood off. Lee tipped his head to the side as if to say "true".

"C'mon Lee, we gotta get her to Cottle."

---

Lee rounded the corner with the President in his arms, Gaia in tow behind him. The Pilot and the marines saw him coming. The Pilot jumped into the Raptor and started up the thrusters. The marines let Lee in first, followed by Gaia. When Gaia turned around she saw the marines begin to drag Nathaniel on board.

"No, no way. Take another Raptor."

She raised her eyebrows at them and gave "the look" before closing the hatch.

---

"Mr Hoshi what's going on?" Adama stalked into CIC, klaxons sounding. Before Hoshi could answer a voice appeared behind him.

"Some sort of medical emergency on the refinery ship." answered Saul.

"I better head down there." grumbled Bill. He left CIC, Colonel Tigh following.

---

The Raptor jolted signalling they had arrived, the hatch opened with a hiss to reveal Doctor Cottle and three medics. Lee managed to jump out before they boarded. In seconds he saw Laura being lifted out and onto the gurney, just as she was wheeled out the Admiral entered the hanger with Saul Tigh.

"Oh frak." Lee murmured under his breath.

Bill walked up to him.

"What happened, who was that?"

Before Lee could answer, Gaia stepped out onto the wing, breathing heavily. Her jacket and pants were soaked in blood, which didn't go unnoticed by Adama. He took one look at her face and his eyes widened. He ran out of the hangar only one destination in mind. Saul looked at Gaia.

"Should I follow him?" She nodded and he too left for sickbay.

Lee breathing as heavily as Gaia didn't look at her. She stepped off the Raptor's wing and put a hand on the wing edge to steady herself, her hands being slippery with blood so instead she slipped to the floor.

She sat there, hanging her head and tried her absolute hardest no to cry. She failed. Ramming her eyes shut, she muffled her sobs with the crook of her elbow. Lee grabbed her by the arms and pulled her up into his embrace. She cried even harder into his should.

---

Doc Cottle and his team lifted Laura onto one of the beds, as he crossed to the other side of the bed he saw the Admiral entering sickbay and inwardly groaned. It was going to be a job and a half to get him to leave.

"Doc."

Cottle yelled over his shoulder as he worked. "Admiral now isn't a really good time, I suggest you come back later."

"You know I'm not going anywhere." growled Bill.

"Well just make sure you stay out of my frakking way then."

Bill could see that Laura's eyes were open, but only slightly, she wasn't quite unconscious yet. She blinked sluggishly and he wanted more than her to catch his gaze, just so she would know that he was here. Saul placed a hand on Bill's shoulder as they stood out of the way of the bustle of medical staff. He heard a noise behind him and saw Lee and Gaia arrive.

They walked up to stand near the pair and watched just as Saul and Bill did. There was nothing else they could do now. Gaia however, slowly walked up to the commotion in front of them. Cottle went to dismiss her but not before Laura spotted her and managed out a strangled no. Cottle bent over Laura.

"I'm not going to even bother arguing with you, so two minutes, we need to get you into surgery."

Gaia moved closer to Laura's bedside. Laura weakly took her hand.

"Evie, don't worry." Was all she said.

"'Right, let's go." They wheeled her to surgery, Gaia letting her hand fall from her mother's.

Gaia walked back out to Lee, Saul and Bill. Bill turned to Lee and Gaia. "What happened?"

---

A few hours later Cottle walked into the cubicle they were all waiting in still in his scrubs. Saul had gone back to CIC to cover Bill's shift while he waited for news on Laura.

"She's been stitched up, lost a lot of blood, weak and is still unconscious. You can wait here until she wakes up but no visitors until she's awake, I have a few things to talk to about her before one of you three goes blundering in there." He grunted before walking off to his office for a strong drink.

---

He heard a knock at the door. He only grunted in response but it was enough to signal to the other person. It was Ishay.

"She's waking up."

"Thank you Ishay, I'll be right there." He placed the bottle back in the draw and left his office.

"How you feel?" he asked.

"Great."

He smiled. "Thank you for your sarcasm Madame President." He waited a beat before continuing. "I need to fill you in on a few things. That cut on your neck is quite deep but thankfully not any longer than five centimetres. You were extremely lucky which you seem to be a lot. My point is, its gunna scar, and badly. It will be very noticeable and you'll get questions and stares, I just want to prepare you."

She nodded and gave a watery smile. He smiled back and kissed her hand. "Right, you've got three people who've been waiting here for hours to see you, which one first? Hmm?"

She tried to clear her throat. "Gaia, I need to tell her something." He nodded and left to retrieve her.

Next thing Laura knew the curtain was being pushed back and she saw her daughter enter, eyes everywhere else but her own.

"Gaia?" Laura rasped and held her hand out to her daughter. Gaia took it but still didn't look her in the eye. Laura in turn shook her arm. "Evie look at me." Gaia did so, reluctantly.

Laura looked her dead in the eye and spoke. "Do not, for a second, think that you were unwanted. Not for a second." Gaia closed her eyes as her lip quivered, she knew she was going to start crying again and she wasn't sure if she wanted to stop herself or not. She swallowed her sob and looked up to blink the tears away. Laura pulled on her arm. "Come here." Gaia complied and leant down into her mother's embrace, placing her head under her chin, careful not to bump her neck. Gaia couldn't take it much longer and let the tears flow. Laura realised this when she faintly felt a hot wetness soak through her gown into her chest. As if Gaia's tears soaked right into Laura's own heart she began to cry with her daughter.

When Gaia had calmed a little she sniffed and spoke.

"Why do you keep calling me Evie?"

Laura smiled through her tears. "Because when you were little you use to watch a show where the main character was called Evie, when I use to ask you where Evie was, you would point at yourself instead of the TV. I ended up nicknaming you Evie as a joke but it stuck."

Gaia closed her eyes and sighed, though another sob she responded. "I remember."

Laura sighed as well. "Really?"

Gaia sniffed again. "Yes, but not just that. I remember it all. Me getting angry at you, Leoben taking me, you screaming my name. All of it."

Laura couldn't help but sigh again. Gaia however continued.

"I blocked it all out, I knew what had happened, that Nathaniel had found me in the square, or whatever. But I had blocked most of it, and until I started dreaming it, I wasn't sure what the truth was. Then I started to remember and when I had to recount it to Doc Cottle I knew exactly what had happened. Anyway, I need to get out of this uniform and the Admiral is itching to see you."

Reluctantly Gaia pulled herself out of Laura's arms. Laura kissed Gaia's forehead. Gaia smiled genuinely at her and left.

Walking past the other cubicle she ducked her head. "She all yours." Bill at her words left and went to see her. "Lee, come on, he'll be a while and I have someone I want to see."

---

Laura heard the curtains open again. She turned her head and saw Bill standing there. She wasn't sure if the expression on his face meant he was going to kill someone or cry. Instead of doing either he surprised her by walking straight over to her, cupping her left cheek in his hand and kissing her. She froze before melting into the sensation, it wasn't fierce but wasn't chaste. It was long but simple and when he broke it and looked into her eyes, she saw that it was filled with nothing but an amazing love her had for her.

"Lee and Ensign Matthews told me what happened." She only nodded. "I never knew the full story of what happened to Gaia, I'm so sorry Laura." She put on a smile. "It's alright. It's over now and we don't have to worry about him any longer."

---

Lee had trouble keeping up with Gaia since she was almost running to the Hangar Bay. When they stepped through the hatch he stopped and grabbed her arm. "What are we doing here, Gaia?" She only shrugged him off and kept walking until she found who she was looking for.

"Chief!" She called.

Galen whipped his head around to see the young Ensign Matthews, admittedly having looked better, coming towards him.

"Ensign, what can I do for... you?" He paused when he realised she was covered in blood.

"Has the second Raptor from the trillium refinery come back yet?" she asked.

"Umm.. yeah, it docked hours ago, why?"

"Where did the marines take the man they had with them?"

"Brig, I think." He gave a puzzling look from Gaia to Lee. Lee only smiled and shrugged as Gaia mumbled a thanks and wandered off in the direction of the brig.

---

"Unlock it." She ordered as she entered the brig.

The marine hesitated a moment until Gaia glared at him, making him unlock the door without avail. She stepped through and made sure she was standing directly in front of Nathaniel. He stood up from his position on the rack and faced her. She glared at him for a few moments before punching him so hard that Lee swore he heard Nathaniel's teeth come lose.

Lee realised he wasn't far wrong when blood poured out of Nathaniel's mouth and two teeth fell into his hands. Nathaniel looked at Gaia from under glaring eyes.

"You're going to be executed, you know that." He just kept staring at her. "And don't be surprised that when the Admiral comes to see you, you lose a few more teeth." She hissed. Then leaning over to whisper in his ear. "Oh and don't worry about me, Dad, because I won't be giving you another thought, ever." With that she swiftly exited. Lee smiled at the scene he'd just witnessed, _her mother would be proud_ he thought.

---

About a Month Later

Laura sat on the bed waiting for Jack to finish his examination.

"Well, I don't think there will be anymore scarring, your wound seems to have healed nicely, considering. But it's time we took this patch off for good."

He removed the gauze and micropore.

"You're free to go, it might take some getting use to, keep that in mind." She nodded and smiled.

"Thank you Doctor." He grumbled and left the cubicle.

She stood up and saw a mirror on the opposite wall, deciding to go inspect her new battle wound. She hadn't seen it before now, and it was quite a shock to see a thin lumpy line on the leftish side of her neck. She was intrigued by it more than bothered by it. It signified an ending to a chapter of her life. She gently glided her fingers over the strange tissue and sighed. "Just as it to the list." She said aloud, not realising Gaia was behind her.

"Yeah, about those, I've been meaning to ask you. Where did you get them?"

Laura whipped around. Absentmindedly covering her neck she answered. "The old ones are from a couple of operations I had. The newest ones were from that accident on Colonial One. The big long one is from your birth and the others... well, New Caprica, detention."

Gaia nodded in understanding. "The Admiral doesn't know about them does he?"

Laura shook her head. "He doesn't know I was ever in detention. I never told him, and the others are from operations, he won't find those ones too hard to deal with."

"You ever gunna tell him?" Gaia asked.

"Not if I can help it." She answered.

Gaia pointed as her mother. "You're covering your neck."

Laura realised she was and removed her hand. Gaia smiled.

"What's so funny?"

"Aww nothing, just makes you look tough." Gaia laughed at her own joke while Laura smiled and shook her head.

"Thank you."

"Anytime."

**(Well that was longer that I thought it would be. Confused yet? Reviews are welcomed entirely.)**


	36. Shaking Hands With Fate

**(It has been a while, and I did say that I was back at writing. And it was the truth. Then school started, I've just started my Prelims and it's my first year as a senior so I've been busy. But this story does not have very long to go at all, few chapters at best. So I am on holidays again and am forcing myself to finish this. Enjoy the end of the ride my friends.)**

Over the slow weeks that turned into even slower months she had been getting many comments, stares and even questions from people about the ever obvious scar on her neck. When people commented, she deflected. When they stared, she ignored them. And when they questioned... she lied.

There was no way she was going to jeopardise her position and the fleet in what little time she still had left. She was also not going to throw her daughter to the press. So she lied, she never mentioned Nathaniel, she never mentioned Gaia and she never ever mentioned how it all connected. She simply said it was a scar from an operation concerning her treatment. It worked every time. People were either too flustered about the topic of her cancer being brought up to continue with their questions, or they saw it as eggshell ground, and they didn't want to have to tread carefully. So they simply let it be.

She was grateful for the few people that never asked. For the few people that never looked and for the few people that never commented. The ones that just looked at her as normal, the ones that smiled and continued by, most not having the slightest idea about what had happened.

She had cancelled her treatments with Doctor Cottle and managed to stop Bill from visiting. She didn't want him finding out until she found out for sure it was too late to change her mind. She knew he would try to persuade her to continue her treatments, and she was worried that he would succeed. If purely for the fact that the pain in his eyes would be too much for her to handle. She wasn't sure she was strong enough these days to resist the emotions that surrounded her, especially the ones of others. So she hid it from him.

Despite all of this she had actually planned to tell him when she first begun cancelling them, but the time just hadn't been right, and every time she tried something got in the way, or stopped her. Now it had just been too long, and telling him was past being an option.

In place of her treatments, she has spent her time on the observation deck. Gaia had of course accompanied her every time, but instead of standing outside as she normally would, she sat up the back while Laura sat by the window. The only thing that separated her from the stars. Laura has insisted that Gaia come in with her, if not only to elude the Admiral but to, even if it be silently, spend some time with her daughter.

Today Gaia was reading a book that she had brought with her. She deemed it safe enough, with the marines outside secretly standing guard to the only door in or out and her and Laura being the only ones inside, to do so. Laura couldn't help but smile widely when she had noticed that it was a mystery. _Something she does take after me for I suppose._

Laura sat by the window like she always did, this time though, she wasn't gazing out at the illustrious stars. She was staring intently at Gaia, who had noticed but was ignoring her. Gaia figured if the President had something she wanted to say to her, she would do so.

Laura got up and gingerly walking up the stairs to Gaia, realising it was a more difficult task than it had been a month ago. She waited a beat before seating herself next to her daughter, Gaia however, didn't shift her concentration from her book. If she was honest she wasn't paying much attention to the words before her, but she was making sure it looked like she was.

Laura took a deep breath in. She wondered when it had become so awkward for her to talk to Gaia, at times when she looked at her she had to remind herself that she wasn't the beautiful four year old that she remembered. She was a young adult, a growing woman, someone who knew how nasty and cruel the world was, just like the rest of them.

She was holding that breath now, which Gaia had noticed. Finally letting it annoy her enough she firmly shut the book, placed on her lap and turned her entire body to face Laura.

"What is wrong?"

Laura was taken off guard. With the breath she was still holding in she replied.

"Nothing, I just thought we could talk. We have never had a proper conversation."

Gaia slightly nodded as she turned to the opposite direction. Looking at the seat beside her she placed the book down, folded her hands over her lap and crossed her legs. She was ready for what was to come, Gods knows it was probably going to be a long conversation.

"I'm sorry."

Gaia's brow furrowed as she tried to think about what Laura could possibly be apologising for. She waited for her to continue but she never did, instead Gaia spoke.

"What are you sorry for?"

Laura sat silently for a while before answering.

"For letting you down, again."

Gaia sat back, she really didn't want to have this conversation. When she responded her voice was quieter than she had intended for it to be.

"What are you talking about? You have never let me down."

"I have. I lost you. I let them put you on a slab when you weren't dead and now, I'm giving up. My choice doesn't just affect me."

If Gaia had to do this, she wasn't going to make it easy for Laura.

"No, you're right, it affects everyone around you. Especially me, and the Admiral." Laura's head shot up at the mention of Bill. Gaia continued, ignoring the sudden movement. "But... we are not the ones living in hell every day and we are not the ones fighting a this battle. So it is easy for us... for me, to be selfish."

She looked her mother square in the eyes.

"I know Doc Cottle told you everything, I know if that man got started that he wouldn't have been able to stop. So I know, that you know, about why I kept who I was from you. But I've also come to realise that, I wasn't just trying to protect you from losing me again. I was trying to protect myself, from losing you."

Gaia looked away, certain that Laura had spotted the beginnings of tears in her eyes, she wasn't going to cry. If she did, she would never stop.

"Not letting you be my mother, was easier than having to admit the fact that I would be losing my mother again, and that is selfish. I knew it would be easier, to watch the President decided to end her treatments, than watch my mother do it. That, is selfish. It is easy to be selfish in this situation, but this is your decision and despite how... devastated the people around you will be, you can't let that fact hinder your choice. I chose not to tell you, to stop myself from getting hurt. I chose not to tell you, to stop you from feeling like you were leaving another person behind. I chose not to tell you, so that when the time came for you to decide, you would not have reservations about me. So that you would not choose to go through pain over and over again, every day, just so that I would not think you have given up."

Laura didn't realise that tears had fallen from her eyes until the salty warmth made contact with her lap. Gaia reluctantly continued.

"I don't want to lose you again. I wish every day that this could be different. I've lost too much in my life to lose again, we all have. I want to be selfish, I want you to fight and I suppose normally I would be angry."

This admission surprised Laura.

"But I'm not. Because I realised something else, you already have fought, you fought and you lost only to be cured. Then again you fought and fought and I know, after thinking about it, that you aren't giving up. You're merely shaking hands with fate, wishing him a good game, and accepting that you can't change it. You tried and you lost, but you certainly have not given up."

As Gaia managed the last of her words out she swallowed harshly, the lump in her throat had been growing for a while and it had almost erupted at the end. Laura was dumbfounded, she had expected Gaia to be angry, upset. She knew she was upset, she knew she was devastated, but she had expected her to act like it. What she didn't expect was what she had gotten and now she didn't know how to respond.

Finally Laura found her voice. She placed her hands on either side of Gaia's warm face.

"Gaia, you are my daughter, and I will always, always love you. D'you hear me? I want you to remember that, remember it until you can't."

Gaia bowed her head and nodded forcing Laura to drop her hands. Laura wanted to say something, comfort her more somehow. She just decided on one simple little thing. Her mother always told her that actions spoke louder than words, so when you don't know what to say, act. Laura firmly, but gently grabbed Gaia and tightly hugged her. Gaia's head was tucked under Laura's chin and she could hear her mother's heart beating, which just filled her with more sadness than she ever thought she could feel.

-----------------

He nodded to people as he passed them. Briskly walking to his destination with one of his most cherished books under his arm. He rounded the corner, he was almost able to smell the familiar antiseptic smell from where he was, and he was still a good few metres away. Drawing closer to the entrance of his destination the smell got stronger, it surprised him an how unused to it he was despite the amount of time he spent there.

He entered. He looked around for the young Ensign he had expected to find guarding a curtained cubicle. She was nowhere to be seen. With confusion washing over his features he stalked to Doctor Cottle's office and opened the door to find said Doctor sitting in his chair, feet up on the desk, cigarette in his mouth. He didn't look up.

"Where's Ensign Matthews?"

Cottle still didn't look up but answered him all the same.

"She's with the President, like always."

Bill couldn't piece it together, Gaia wasn't out there and there was no closed off cubicles. So where were they?

"So what you're saying is that the President isn't here?" Bill questioned. Cottle finally looked up at him.

"I... didn't say anything." As he spoke he slowly but obviously nodded his head, making sure the Admiral saw that the nod was his actual answer. At this Bill immediately turned and left his office and sickbay. He was on his way back to his Quarters, hoping she would be there to explain this. He passed the observation deck. As he did he noticed two marines haphazardly standing by the door, as if they were trying to remain as unobvious as possible. Bill instantly stopped, he knew where she was.

He turned on his heel and went to enter when one of the marines stopped him.

"You can't go in there sir." Bill stepped backwards and looked the marine up and down before fixing the 'Adama stare' on him. The marine looked to his partner and back to the Admiral before reluctantly stepping aside. Bill continued to glare him down before opening the hatch and entering.

**(Well that was fun. I was going to continue with it, but that seemed like a good place to leave it. And as not to lose the flow I've got at the moment, I'm going to write start of the next chapter right now, if not the whole thing. Please review.)**


	37. Almost Gone

**(See, I didn't lie, I'm writing it right now. My back hurts and my friend is asleep in my bed, I threw Jelly Beans at her, she didn't notice. Enjoy.)**

Gaia heard the hatch open, but she did not want to move from her mother's arms, so she stayed there. She didn't care anymore, who had the right to deny her what little time she had left with her. She did though, feel Laura's head angle upwards to see who the intruder was, she then felt her sharply breathe in. Gaia reluctantly moved out of Laura's embrace, wiping her cheeks. When she turned around she saw who had come in and felt the same anxiety that she was sure the President was feeling.

--------------

Bill came to a halt as soon as his feet were firmly inside the Observation Deck. Whereas Gaia made no attempt to move, he saw Laura gently look up at him and her eyes widen. Gaia shortly after removed herself from Laura and looked at him. He was still rooted to the spot.

Gaia looked back at her mother, kissed her on the cheek, picked up her book and pulled the hatch handle out of Adama's grip, before leaving and shutting it behind her.

Laura looked at the carpet, it was ever so interesting and a far more welcoming sight than his eyes. He still hadn't moved and he didn't know where to start. But Laura did.

"What you doing here Bill?" She looked up at him when she spoke his name and saw him staring at the wall behind her. He looked down and into her eyes. She looked away, she couldn't look him in the eye.

"I was coming to read to you." He pulled the book out from under his arm and tossed it onto the seat between them, it made her jump. He began to slowly pace, she wasn't sure if he was more angry than he was upset, but he was certainly having trouble containing it.

She sat back in her seat, this was going to be her second long/important conversation of the day and she only had just realised how much the first had taken out of her, physically as well as emotionally.

"Sit down Bill." He stopped pacing and looked at her, she was staring absently in front of herself. He waited a moment before picking up Searider Falcon and sat in it's place.

"I'm sorry." She seemed to be saying that a lot today, whether or not she had reason too.

"You can't just give up Laura." She looked at him, it had sounded more like a plea than a statement, but had the same effect on her none the less. She turned her attention back, tears now in her eyes. When she had spoken to Gaia about this, she walked into the conversation believing the opposite to what she did now. She had listened to her daughter convince her how she was not letting anyone down and how she was not giving up. Now she was going to be the one explaining it to Bill, and that hurt her, that he didn't understand.

She whispered to herself giving a small, repeated nod of her head as she spoke. "It is easy to be selfish in this situation." Now it was his turn to look at her.

"What?" She turned back to him, their eyes meeting, this time though she did not break the contact.

"You need to fight this Laura, you can win, you just have to keep fighting." He gritted his teeth as the words left his mouth, she looked away again.

She shook her head. "No." Her voice was smaller than it had been, he noticed that. She shook her head again and repeated herself. "No." She turned and found his eyes once more.

"I'm done Bill." She was on the verge of crying and he hated seeing it.

"I can't win, I know that and you know that... There is a big difference between being positive and reaching for the stars. I've done my fighting, I just wanna rest." He gave her an expression of pure pain and she found it hard to keep looking at him. She took in a shaky breath as he looked down into his lap.

"I'm not giving up Bill, I never did. I have just... come to accept my fate." She placed her hand on his and gave it a squeeze. He looked back up to meet her eyes and she gave him a watery smile before standing to leave. He let her shuffle past him before standing and grabbing her arm. She stilled but did not look up. He gently dragged her back to him and slightly shook her shoulders to get her to face him. A few of her tears had fallen now and he could feel some forming in his own eyes.

He pulled her tightly against him, wrapping his arms so firmly around her that she thought she might burst. She slowly wrapped hers around his broad back and clutched at his jacket as she buried her face in his shoulder. He felt her hiccup a few times before going silent. He held her tighter never planning to let go.

"I love you Laura." He breathed the words into her neck before planting a soft kiss on the skin there. She shut her eyes, her heart felt like it was going to explode. It was full of so many emotions, love, pain, sadness. She felt so much love, which made her feel pain, a deep constricting pain in her chest. She didn't want to die, not now, not when she had so much to live for. But at the same time she was so tired, just so so tired, she just wanted to sleep.

He felt her loosen her grip on his jacket before her arms dropped completely from him, he knew something was wrong and when she went limp against him he suddenly couldn't breathe. Was she... gone?

**(I'm a total bitch but you love me for it. Read and review please nigglets. It's all I got to run on at the momento.)**


	38. A Day

**(Okay well I said I wanted to get this done by the time school started again for me. School starts tomorrow, that being said it means I have approximately 12 hours to finish this story. 12 hours to the minute of school starting. I'm not sure if this is gunna be the last chapter or the second last and there will most likely be a epilogue. But please enjoy the last of this story.)**

Four chairs.

Four chairs seated around the bed, two on each side and not one of them was empty.

One man.

One man stood at the end of the bed. He was different, he was silent. He stood, silent. They all sat, silently.

He sighed heavily and picked up the clip board that hung from the end of the bed. He flicked the papers over, looking at the charts and results. He sighed again, and placed it back down. He looked to the two occupied chairs on his left, he looked into the eyes of the bodies that occupied them. Eyes darting between them he spoke.

"A day... at the most." At that the heads of the two bodies in the chairs to his right shot up, he turned to face them, turning away from the despair of the other two. He looked at them, the exact same pain and despair present in their eyes. He turned away from them as well and looked at the still form laying in the bed before him. Bowing his head he stuck his hands into his pockets, looking for his always faithful friend, a cigarette. He felt his fingers brush against the long thin object and moved to grasp it. He stopped, realising that he didn't want it, realising that it didn't feel right. Not now.

She stared unresponsively at nothing. She was half sure that her gaze was directed at the side of the bed, since it was directly in front of her, but she still didn't quite realise what she was staring at. Maybe because she was staring at nothing at all. She was however slightly aware of her surroundings, slightly aware of the woman in the bed, slightly aware of the man in the chair beside her, slightly aware of the two people in chairs on the other side of the bed, slightly aware of the Doctor at the end of the bed.

All she needed to be was slightly aware, that's all it took for her to hear his words.

"A day... at the most." They were like a swift, hard smack to the face and they made her look up in shock. The shock was present in her core from the entire time he had said those words, but in seconds the other emotions she felt were able to seep through and settle firmly on her features. She slowly after a few moments dropped her head back down, letting... willing her mind to drift back to nothing.

Besides the Doctor who stood idly at the end of the bed, he felt as if he was the only one to show the little signs of life they had all come to cherish over the years. The two people across the bed from him didn't even appear to be breathing they sat that still. The man's face was stoic, hard, emotionless, the face of a leader holding it together for his people. The girl beside the man, she was raw with emotion, her eyes portrayed the very essence of damage. They both were looking expectantly at the Doctor.

The woman to his right had been staring so intently at the railing of the bed in front of them that he thought her eyes were going to drop from her face. He rubbed his jaw and slumped further into his chair.

The Doctor sighed, picked up the chart of the woman in the bed and looked through them before sighing again and placing them back down. He watched him, waiting for him to say what they all dreaded to hear.

"A day... at the most." His brain didn't register it at first, it couldn't register it. A day? At the most? How could someone decide that another human being only had a day to live, it hardly seemed fair. He continued to stare at the Doctor as he turned his attention to the woman in the bed, waiting, for something, anything.

There were five of them in the cold, still room. Five not counting the woman in the bed before him. The shadow of a woman. Four of them were sitting, too shell-shocked to stand. The only one standing was the Doctor, who was now reading through the woman's chart. His face was grim and laced with sadness. His son and daughter sat in seats on the other side of the bed, his daughter showed few signs of being with them while his son was the exact opposite, fidgety, restless.

Then there was the girl next to him, to his left, the daughter of the woman laying in the bed. She was looking up at the Doctor, just like him, waiting. The Doctor sighed and placed the chart back down before looking at him, he occasionally shifted his gaze to the girl beside him and back again. He finally said something.

"A day... at the most."

He vaguely witnessed his daughter and son look up at the good Doctor in surprise. In response the Doctor turned his attention to them briefly before moving it to the woman in the bed. A day, that hadn't been what he had expected to hear, not since only a few hours ago was this woman in his arms, talking to him like the worlds didn't matter. He removed his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose for a few moments and then looking at the girl beside him.

Numb, it was all she felt. She had known this time was coming, she had known it was near and that it would arrive soon, but it still made her feel like she wasn't prepared. Probably because she wasn't. She had been going on day to day ignoring what was to come. Or maybe not ignoring it, but just not paying it the attention it deserved. She found herself looking up at the Doctor at the end of the bed, he was flicking through the charts and results of the woman in front of her. Her mother.

She saw the Doctor turn to look at her and the man seated closely to her right, his eyes jumped between them as if he couldn't decide on which pair of eyes he wanted to be looking at. She felt, just from seeing his expression, like she was going to be sick. She swallowed the lump in her throat.

"A day... at the most."

And there it was. She didn't feel shocked or surprised, she had been expecting him to say something like this and now the words were lingering around the room. Bouncing off each of them, rattling all of them to the core, but not her. Of course she felt the same pang of deep senseless pain just as equally as the rest of them, maybe even more, but she didn't feel the shock. She almost wished she had when she felt the pure anguish in her heart show on her face, she knew it had when the Doctor looked away from her and the man and into the faces of the two bodies on the other side of the bed.

She contorted her face, showing a look of discomfort, as if something in the pit of her stomach was rising against her will. She shifted in her seat, grabbing the attention of the man beside her. He looked at her, the beginnings of tears evident in his eyes, seeing that made her own eyes start to water, she needed a moment.

Getting up to leave she almost tripped over the chair behind her before ripping through the curtain to leave Sickbay. Kara was still staring at the bed and didn't even notice while Cottle, Bill and Lee all looked after her, neither one having the strength to go after her.

**(I thought this was going to be the last chapter, but when the little tumbleweed in my head began rolling and gained some speed I realised that I still have at least two more chapters after this one. The next one will be sad, like hell sad, at least that is my intention, so I'm warning you now. The one after that might be quite short and then I will aim to write a epilogue... somehow. Now please please I'm begging you to review this, I would love to know your opinion.**

**P.S I would like to add that while I wrote this my boyfriend sat on my bed next to me having a bitch fit the entire time because his hand doesn't fit into the Pringles tube.)**


	39. He Whispered Such Sweet Things

**(June 20th: Omg... I have 6 and half freaking hours before school starts. I am going to make it I swear to frakking god, even if it kills me, which at this point is likely. Please review.)**

Gaia jolted violently awake in the chair she had been sleeping in. She remembered the past few hours and flashes of images invaded her mind, flashes of Starbuck, Lee, The Admiral, herself and Doc Cottle surrounding her mother's sickbay bed. She was about to thank the gods that it had been a dream until she looked up and saw that said chair she was slumped in was in a Sickbay cubicle, next to a bed that housed a woman that was the spitting image of her mother.

She let her head fall backwards until it harshly connected with the top of the chair and sighed. She felt like yelling and screaming at the reality she was living, it wasn't fair, not in any way you looked at it. Not for her at least.

"You'll hurt yourself if... you keep doing that."

Gaia's head shot up and she looked directly into her mother's open eyes. It sparked a sudden energy she didn't think she had left in her and she instantly sat up and dragged the chair closer.

"Calm down Gaia... I'm not going... anywhere."

This made Gaia slow her actions and give Laura a look that told her it hadn't been the best choice of words. Laura saw it and immediately regretted what she had said, both of them however chose to ignore it and move on.

"This may be a stupid question but how are you feeling?" Gaia asked, leaning her right arm on the bed.

"I don't... have an answer... for that... that doesn't... involve... an obscenity." Laura struggled out.

Gaia smiled. "That's good, I'm feeling great too."

Laura slightly smiled at Gaia's return of sarcasm. She wanted so much to get to know the daughter she now had and knew that she had very little time left to do so. They had foolishly wasted what they had, but now was all there was.

"I want... to get... to know... as much about you... as I can... before I die." Gaia's smile dropped from her face like a stone does to the bottom of a lake. She began to stutter and before Gaia could properly respond, Laura weakly lifted her right hand and pulled off her silver bracelet. She placed it in Gaia's hand.

"Yours." Was all she said and gave Gaia a look that told her not to argue. Gaia smiled at her and accepted it. Gaia was about change the subject back when Laura spoke again. "It... was a gift... from my... mother. Me... and my sisters... all... got one. Now... it's... yours." Gaia didn't know what to say, but Laura did.

"I love... you." Gaia looked at her, startled by the sudden sentence her mother had just spoken. Gaia smiled sadly, the only thing she could do to keep her composure was shift the conversation back to its earlier topic.

"I-I have... no idea where to start." Gaia admitted.

Laura smiled and found Gaia's hand again and gave it a squeeze. "The beginning... sounds like a good... place."

Gaia took a deep breath, something she had now realised her mother was having trouble with.

She began.

------------------ Few hours later -------------------

As Gaia told Laura about herself it had become apparent that Laura no longer had to strength to speak and the entire time she hadn't moved her eyes from her daughter's face. As the hours ticked by, Lee and Kara had found themselves by Laura's bedside and refused to move until they found there was no reason to be there anymore. They all knew what that reason was and they all tried desperately not to think about it.

Lee and Kara said nothing, they just listened to Gaia tell her mother about her experiences and her life in the time they had spent apart. It was sort of refreshing for the both of them, learning many things about a person they realised they didn't know so well and having a distraction from the seething pot of emotion lying at the bottom of their stomach's.

Eventually Bill turned up. The day was coming to a close and the ship was winding down. There hadn't been any patients in Sickbay for a while now, so Lee, Kara, Gaia, Laura, Bill and of course Doc Cottle were the only ones left.

Bill pulled up a chair next to Gaia.

"May I?" Gaia looked at the Admiral to see what he was gesturing too and then removed her hand from Laura's, allowing Bill to take it in his own. If anyone had been surprised about the action they didn't show it, but Gaia was certain that no one was surprised by any affection the Admiral showed the President, they all knew they loved each other unconditionally.

Laura's eyes were barely open but she was able to register the change in hands around hers, the soft skin to gruff warmth made her realise Bill was there and she smiled. Gaia looked over at the stand next to the bed and saw a bottle of pills. She picked them up and read the label.

"S. Cottle?" She questioned.

"Yes young lady." Came the voice of the Doctor they all knew and loved. Even Lee and Kara looked up at him.

"I thought your name was Jack." Lee stated, his voice tinged with confusion.

Still looking into Laura's weakening smile he answered for the Doctor.

"Nickname, he hates being called Sherman, so he goes by Jack."

Cottle gave a half hearted glare to the Admiral who was too preoccupied to notice. Gaia snorted which earned her a glare as well and placed the pills back onto the stand. She stood up to stretch and Lee and Kara did the same. None of them realised how stiff they had gotten from sitting so long. Gaia had easily been there all day and Lee and Kara's clocked hours weren't far behind. Bill had wished he had spent all day here but his ship still needed him and he knew Laura wouldn't want him to abandon his duties for her.

Bill sat mesmerized by her face, even in sickness she looked absolutely beautiful, the green scarf tied softly around her hairless head, the gown, her pale lips, still beautiful... but something changed. Now Bill joined the others in standing and all five of them felt their hearts jump to their throats.

They watched helplessly as Laura's eyes slowly flickered shut and the beeps of the monitor began to decrease. Gaia looked up, horrified with what she knew was about to happened. The sickening feeling in her stomach she had been pushing down was threatening to rush up and she could tell by Lee and Kara's faces that it was the same for them.

Bill whispered her name, asking for her. He looked at the monitor. They all watched as the last few remnants of her life left her and the beeps bled into one long, heart stabbing sound. Bill, who still had hold of her hand looked up at the monitor, she was gone. Gaia felt like her heart was being torn in two, she stood silently, feeling tears fall from her eyes. The heart ache she felt was so severe that she could feel her chest physically start to hurt. She had just lost her mother, again and Bill had just lost the woman he loved more than life.

Kara couldn't help it and turned to Lee for comfort as Jack bowed his head in sadness.

Bill now looking back at Laura bent down and placed a tender kiss to her lips. His face was contorted in pain. He let out a shaky breath as he sat back down, the others still standing.

"You go, you go. You go and you rest down. I'm not gunna be selfish anymore... You go, rest."

He slid off his ring to slowly put it on Laura's finger before letting his own tears roll down his cheeks.

Kara had her face buried in Lee's shoulder while he watched his father's actions. Gaia still stood meekly by and stared at the bracelet in her hand for a moment. She slipped it onto her left wrist and pulled her sleeve down to cover it. She moved around Bill and bent down to kiss her mother's cold, pale forehead. She hovered just above Laura's face letting a few sobs escape her lips and whispered into her ear.

"I love you too."

**(Yuh. Please Review.)**


	40. Goodbye

**(I not sure exactly what I can say here, so I'll just start rambling. I started writing this fic over two years ago, it was my first fic and since I started it I have started and finished others, made small drabbles and even jumped into the world of other shows and their fics. I just wanna thank everyone who has read this, and everyone who reviewed, you guys have no idea how much reviews keep us dudes going and if you do then you understand. It's been a long journey and it's finally over, I'll admit I'm sad to see it end but also happy that it's come to a close. I didn't think I would finish this and I have. Enjoy)**

Gaia's world at the present was a blur, it had been for days. People's voices were muffled and delayed, as if someone had placed their hands over her ears and played the days in slow motion. But now, as she watched that spot on the concrete floor, everyone was silent.

She ignored the priest's drone of prayer and proverb, it was a quiet lull in the back of her head. Though at least Laura was getting what she wanted. Gaia remembered at Cally's funeral, she overheard the President whispering to the Admiral that this was exactly what she wanted, when it was her turn. Gaia remembered looking at him at the perfect moment to see the pain on his face, it was as if someone had cut his heart out. _If only she'd seen it, maybe she would have told him sooner, _were Gaia's thoughts at the time.

Gaia faintly recognised that the priest had stopped and looked up to see the Admiral taking his place at the podium.

Bill stood with his back straight, glancing out at the sea of people who'd come to show their respects. All of which had been touched personally by the memory of the woman they were honouring.

"I remember the first time I ever met Laura Roslin, at the time she was still the Secretary of Education and I remember telling her that I would not allow a networked computer aboard this ship. The second time I ever met her, seven hours later, billions of people had been massacred and she had been thrown into the one of the most difficult positions I myself could ever think of. She was now the President of what was left of our colonies, she took an oath to protect what was left of us with every fibre of her being and she was telling me, that the war was over, that we lost. In her first seven hours of being President she put this fleet together and saved every soul that was in it. If she had no have convinced me to run, none of you would be here today. This woman..." He paused and looked over at her body. "This, woman, saved you all.

Sadly her bravery and her courage could not save her from her own demons, but in her last years she used every inch of herself to get us all to this point we are at now. Laura Roslin has earned the peace she so rightfully deserves and now she is in peace, and her memory will forever be with us."

Bill bowed his head in respect and to hide the tears in his eyes that were forming. Suddenly everyone stood and saluted. Lee stepped forward still saluting, he opened his mouth to speak but as he did everyone chorused above him.

"SO SAY WE ALL!"

Bill watched his crew, his friends, his family, show the highest respect to the woman he loved. Lee looked up at his dad and gave a sad smile. "So say we all."

Gaia didn't realise that she had been standing with the others until everyone began to reseat themselves. She hadn't saluted like the rest of them, she felt that a salute from herself didn't dignify the memory of the woman they were all honouring, the memory of her mother. Practically everyone was seated now but Gaia was still standing. People started to notice this and when Lee saw everyone's attention turn in her direction, he followed them. Bill also noticed that she was still standing, she was staring at Laura's casket and he was wondering what she was about to do.

The room was deafly silent as Gaia slowly walked up to Laura. She pulled something from her uniform pocket as she drew nearer and stopped inches from where she lay. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to still the upset inside her chest. She lifted her empty hand and placed it flatly on the smooth wood. She bit her lip in further attempt to quiet the emotion inside of her before removing her hand and looking down into her palms.

Bill, Lee and Kara all watched with sadness, seeing a child lose their parent was a sight that even the coldest heart had troubling witnessing. Gaia now lifted her other hand that contained the object from her pocket and placed both it and her hand on the casket. As she did Bill noticed the silver open bracelet around her wrist and couldn't help but feel a deeper sting of pain at what they had all lost. At what he had lost. The woman he loved.

She looked along the grain of the wood struggling to control herself before whispering.

"Goodbye..." She paused for a moment, relishing on the last word she would ever say to this woman.

"...Mum."

No one had heard what she said except Bill, who was just close enough to hear her almost silent words. The last piece of his heart practically broke for her and he stepped away from the podium to go to her. He gently touched her arm and she leaned her head up to glance at him in response before looking back at the casket. He saw the tears threatening to spill just before she looked away again. As she moved her hand away Bill and everyone close enough saw what it had been concealing.

On the smooth wood of Laura Roslin's casket lay a single red rose. Whispers broke out in the crowd, whispers to the people who couldn't tell what the object was and soon after there was silence again. Bill led Gaia back to her seat and turned to everyone around him.

"Dismissed."

_He felt a warm wind brush past his cheek, turning it a soft pink. He smiled, her memory would forever be with them, forever with him._

**(Epilogue will be up shortly, I'm not gunna make you wait much for that, a day or two just so I can get my head together that this is finally frakking over. As I said, thank you all.)**


	41. Epilogue

**(My exams are over so here is the Epilogue as promised. It's short, but don't think it needed to be any longer. Enjoy.)**

They had been here two days and already it felt like home. Everything was so full of life and beautiful that it sometimes felt like a dream. It had been two months since she died, since Laura had died. As soon as they found Earth Gaia had taken a little bit more notice of the scriptures and realised that they were nothing but true.

Her mother was the dying leader, she found it hard to believe that a crazy lady thousands of years ago foretold the death of her mother, but it still proved true. Kara was the one that had ultimately led them here right at the end, but they wouldn't have gotten anywhere without Laura. As it turned out though, Kara really was dead, the woman they had been talking to and seeing for the past months was an angel. Or something like that.

Suddenly and image flashed through her mind and she remembered something a stranger had said to her when she was younger, just after Leoben had taken her. The stranger had found her wandering around and asked if she was lost, to which she replied that she had been taken. Remembering what the stranger had said after that made Gaia's brain do a double take. "What is taken, will always be found by someone one day." She couldn't help but feel as if she had been found, by everyone that meant something to her.

Smiling to herself Gaia continued thinking about what was the come, she hadn't decided exactly what she was going to do now. She had no family, well except Lee and Bill. Lee had decided he was going to explore as much and as far as he could. Bill had asked Gaia if she would like to help him build his cabin and then live there with him, and she had decided that she just might take him up on his offer.

But right now, she was sitting on the beach, her toes in the sand and the wind in her face. There were these strange sea birds everywhere standing in the water, or sitting on top of it, she didn't know. Either way it made the scene and the land just a little bit more amazing to look at and be a part of. She sighed.

"So much... life."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He sat on the edge of the mountain, looking out at the lush green land. The sun was shining brightly and a light, gentle breeze washed over the rocks around him.

"I laid out the cabin today."

He looked around some more.

"It's going to have an easterly view."

If anyone had been around they wouldn't have been sure who he was talking to. They wouldn't have known he was talking to Laura.

"You should see the light that we get here."

He couldn't pull his eyes away from the view before him.

"When the sun comes out from behind those mountains."

He breathed out slowly.

"It's almost heavenly."

He stopped his thoughts for a moment.

"It reminds me of you."

He continued to stare out at the expanse, thinking of nothing but her. Another whisper of wind brushed across his cheek, and he knew she had heard him.

**(Again thank you everyone for following me down this rabbit hole. I've had fun and I hope you have to.)**


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